Howl at Censorship

The final ruling of this case seems to me to be the right one that this poem was not obscene enough to be held off air during times when children would not be listening. It is ridiculous to think, as they suggested, that so many other things far worse are created in our mass media culture and are accepted and allowed to be aired on television and the radio. Many pieces not accepted to be so cultural as a poem that reflects a man’s view of our society during a difficult time, have been admired and encouraged to be aired, even during times that might be caught by a child’s eye. While words such as “negro”, “naked” and “smoking” do appear in lines of the poem, none of these words are as terrible as some make them out to be, and are certainly far better than many of the language heard walking down the street today.

It is almost impossible to distinguish which words are acceptable to be used in a public manor, and even harder to determine how those who do broadcast or popularize them should be held accountable (the 1^st amendment is a hard thing to argue against).  I think that if certain words must be blocked out during times where children may be present, then they should be not allowed on television or radio at all. If so, then many of the songs we all listen to today would not be allowed, and the television shows we watch would be muted out every other word. When did it become okay to use the word bitch on TV? Or the word ass when hole is blocked out? A lot of this does not make sense and will never make sense because it what is okay is determined by a select group of people, who make decisions on what the public is presented with.

10 Revolutionary Computers

With computers being readapted all the time, and made smaller and smaller and smaller every day, it is incredible to look back on how the computer was invented, what steps were taken, and how long it took to get to the Mac Book Air. Learning about what Babbage did in class, was truly jaw dropping, How could someone come up with the concept of the computer in the 1800’s? It’s weird to think that the very first computer was more like a machine, than what we know today with technology.

The massive bodies these early counting machines used made it impossible for the first computers to be used in the everyday household. Not only this, but there hadn’t been a technique developed yet to make the computer easy to use. After the IBM system, more compact devices were developed, and took the shape of more of a typewriter then machine. If it’s funny for us to look back on the earliest computers, with large screens, bulky monitors and storage units, and think about the tiny computers we use today, even incorporated into our mobile devices. What will our kids think about the computers we still use today? How far will technology bring us during our lifetime? It is impossible to predict what is to come.

MZTV

Right off the bat this website caught my attention with the first move of the mouse. Entering the “museum” of television, you move toward the image of the museum and suddenly a man, and a woman with child icons appear to be walking in with you, leading you to the door. I love the way famous quotes are on constant replay, it keeps the attention of the user and gives them something interesting to look at on the homepage of the site.

It is very cool how the colorful reels of options to click on rolls by with which aspects of the history of television you want to explore. The site aims to please many different kinds of people, with a ton of information about early pioneers of TV, famous television actresses including Marilyn Monroe, and an easy to read timeline of the history of television. Anything you need to know about one of the most important inventions of the past decade can be easily found and learned.

The interactive 3d gallery is an incredible idea of the creators of this website. Not only does it attract you to use the website to its fullest and look around at everything, but it is an even better way to learn the information being presented, and explore it on your own terms as the user. It’s very cool to see the evolution of the television set from the earliest model in 1928 to what we see today in Best Buy.  

Experimentalskeleton.com

Experimentalskeleton.com is a really very interesting site to explore and look around on. First of all, the website is very simple to use, with clear display names that contain links, and a clean well organized structure. I first began to explore the past projects the site contains. Some of the most interesting ones I saw were the ES Toy show exhibit, and the lotus flower installation that included pyrotechnics and grand beautiful flowers.  My favorite parts about these pieces are that they have a meaning and message. My favorite “past project” is the Take Your Breath Away piece that showed how much CO2 emissions we give off, how they are reabsorbed, and how the same amount of area for one parking space could equal a plot of land in the rainforest that would absorb 3,500 Lbs of CO2 per acre per year.

This seems like a very fascinating group of artists who, despite the money driven world we live in, continue to create art that serves a purpose, and can help people to learn about our existence and how we can improve it. These projects were sometimes inspiring, thought provoking and shed a new light on what can be considered art, and how we can create art out of anything we want.

The War of the Worlds

Performed as a Halloween episode of the American radio show Mercury Theatre on the Air, the 1938 broadcast of Orson Welles the War of the Worlds create chaos and pandemonium to the public. The story, originally adapted from the novel The War of the Worlds by H. G. Welles, was about a group of alien life forms that come to Earth and disturb the people. While when many read the novel with no ideas of panic or reason to freak out, the fact that this version of the story was done over radio involved many reasons for it to be misunderstood and misinterpreted.

After the show aired, not only were many people outraged about the entire incident, many public figures spoke out about the broadcast, and newspapers and other radio news labeled it “cruelly deceptive”. But despite the bad press, and confusion among Americans, this single air time allowed Orson Welles to become very well-known.

Napoleon by Abel Gance

Napoleon is a silent film from 1927 directed by French man Abel Gance. The film was revolutionary in many ways, despite being a silent epic during a period where talking pictures were close on the horizon. A story of the famous rulers life, the way this movie was created was in many ways ahead of its time.  During filming, the crew used new techniques like hand held cameras shooting in action, along with new age editing techniques such as creating color by painting right on the film strip.

This movie was very important for the time where crucial big steps were being taken in the film-making industry, and all directors, producers, writers and so on were concerned with creating films that captured audience’s attention, and held it. It was a race to create the most beautiful and epic films so far in the history of movies.  This movie was created to show new developments in cinematography, and create a project that incorporated many of the new developments.

Frame by Frame Animation

This frame by frame animation is one of the coolest I’ve seen. Similar to the street art frame by frame animation we watched in class, this video is great because it is brought to life by the movement which is perfectly put together and runs smoothly like the materials take on a life of their own. My favorite parts about this animation were the computer screen and spilt coffee number count, and the staple-shark. It’s interesting how these everyday objects become characters in the story the artist is telling with movement.

I chose this frame by frame animation because my friends found it on YouTube and became obsessed with it. Its pretty funny because of the way Marcel speaks, but also because of the way they developed her character, and use the filming like an interview with her. My favorite part in this video is when she uses a piece of lint as a dog. Hahaha

I love the way this animation begins with the artist using his touch to look like he’s manipulating the character and drawing it with his fingers right there. I like the way he not only uses frame by frame techniques with the post it notes and the story there, but adds to it by also using the space around the post it notes to have physical items in play as well as drawings. My favorite part however is the very end where he piles up the used post-it notes and brings the story backwards so we see where he started and how he developed the images.