Feneon Rap City

Crosses in Lafayette, CA

ONE PERSON

ONE IDEA

TWO SIDES

ONE COMMONALITY

"I can see their point," said Clark, the property owner. "It upsets them to drive by and see all those crosses. Well, it upsets me, too. But that is what happened; it's real. Each cross represents someone who has died over there."

A soft-spoken man and rail-thin, Heaton chooses words with care as he discusses the crosses. Asked if he considered them a war protest or a memorial to the fallen, he paused a few beats before answering.

"It is difficult," he said finally, "to divide that out. I consider it a peace memorial. The point is to sort of in a neutral way show the true impact or effects of the war so that people can work that through in their own way."

http://lafayettecrosses.blogspot.com/

ONE UNAVOIDABLE REALITY

ONE STRIKING IMAGE

ONE PROMISE

Disregarding which side of the issue one is coming from, the truth is, all who have fallen were loved by someone. As human beings we can all relate to feelings of deep love, loss, and sorrow. As we all go on with our daily lives it is important to remember the realities of an imperfect world. Ultimately, all of us will not make it out alive. I recently had the opportunity to drive by this hill while in town for Thanksgiving. I was silenced by the image before me. It is amazing to see the impact one person can have through complete silence. These crosses represent a reality that we must all endure. Sometimes in order to do so one must stop talking, silence their own demons, and be open to a truth that may be beyond their own agendas and understanding. 

Girl on Bike...Graffiti Removal Video

I don't know about anyone else but that girl on the bike in the graffiti removal video was awesome. I mean, she was just chillin' riding her bike along side all these walls and buildings that had been "graffiti removaled". Do you think she was one of the documentarists or just some random person they asked to be in the film? Did anyone else noticed how tricked out her bike was, too? It even had a basket on the front... how convenient! There was a while in the video where she kept appearing and riding by; sometimes she would appear right away, but other times she would stall for a while. I started to anticipate her arrival. You could never tell whether she would come from the left side of the screen or the right. I googled the video and tried to get a picture of her and I couldn't find her anywhere; I was disappointed. I thought she was more of a representation of art than those graffiti removal squares. Her outfit was pretty sweet too. In a way we are all an artistic representation everyday. Our artistic capabilities can be seen through what we choose to wear, how we style (or not style) our hair, the shoes we put on, and even the way we carry ourselves. Let's not forget our "rides", either. Haven't you noticed that you can totally tell a lot about a person through their mode of transportation and how it looks? That girls bike definitely said a lot about her. It has been said that people resemble their pets, well, I think the same can be said about people's modes of transportation. I would have to say that I thought that video displayed a lot of subconscious art; it wasn't so much the graffiti removal that made it interesting as compared to that crazy girl on the bike...

THEY DON'T MESS AROUND!

...NEITHER DOES HE!

 

The Puget "Sound"

 

PSYCHEDELIC PIECE

Wake up at 3:00pm.

Ingest every illegal drug twice.

Up-side-down.

Consider this only beautiful.

Become Mother Theresa.

2008 fall

Novels in Three Lines

Two thieves were caught with 12 pigs stuffed in their small van. "They were really squashed into the car very tightly."

Members of FSU, armed with hammers and machetes, invaded the venue and started shoving concertgoers. The FSU member died at the hospital later that night.

A rape victim drove her rapist to a police station when he fell asleep in his car after assaulting her. She showed a lot of bravery and common sense.

They want to ensure that there is some protection that graves aren't going to cave in as people are walking over them. Maintenance should be relatively straight forward.

Having been living with two skeletons and a badly decomposed body. The woman was taken to a facility for care.

The van drove onto the Sound Transit tracks and struck a light pole between the light-rail tracks. The four people suffered a range of injuries in the 2:48 am crash.

Two pit bulls savagely attacked a 71-year-old
Sea Tac woman who is recovering from
shredded ears, a crushed arm, and a broken jaw.

News From Home

After the first minute or so of the film I wrote in my notebook, "moving day into the city; move away from people you love." Then, when the letters started my first impressions were confirmed. For me, the letters in this film represent the passing of old things and the beginnings of new things; a representation of the evolution that occurs when a significant transition (like moving away from what is comfortable: life as you know it) takes place. I come to this conclusion by associating what is going on in the film with my own life. Literally, a person can pack up and move away from their current life and start a new one somewhere else, but what gets left behind in the wake of transitions are memories, relationships, associations, and thoughts about the experiences that have now passed. In the event of relocation, (meaning, any type of life transition or change) what went before is forever sketched into the soul, to never be forgotten. The letters in the film were a constant reminder of what had gone before. I noticed that as the "new life" progressed for the character in the film, the letters still remained but were gradually more drowned out by the growing hustle of the city and the gradual growth or creation of his/her "new life". The character in the film continued to develop, as did the city itself, but the letters still continued on. Though this character had established a new life for his/herself, the impact that he/she brings to this continuously evolving entity is directly and significantly related to what had gone before. We are all creatures of our experiences past and present. Each moment we take a breath makes an impression on what is to come. In considering this,  each life represents purpose and also direct responsibility for things both conceivable and inconceivable.  

GOLDHOL

Andy Warhol:

Sometimes I think about winterizing my vehicle, but that usually doesn’t happen until I’m driving down I90 in the dark and the snow is coming down hard as my tires are slipping from left to right. Is that supposed to happen? I guess if I winterized my vehicle through Amazon.com I wouldn’t have that problem. But who does that anyway? I would like to meet the person who has winterized their vehicle through amazon.com.

I wonder too if the people who are buying engagement rings through amazon are really getting married for the right reasons. Wow, that statement sounds judgemental; but on that note, a person I work with was looking at pink engagement rings on amazon for his girlfriend of three weeks. He eventually got one, but ultimately had to return it when she left him for another guy during their fifth week of dating. I can’t even really think about that situation because my head spins.

They must research the hot consumer items and update the home page every day. How much does that really boost their sales? I have heard about that book “The Shack”, mostly good things. It must be the popular item. I wonder if oprah will have the author on her show today at 4? What if they researched super old school popular items like from the 60’s, or the 80’s would be cool. And then when you clicked on the item it would take you to a similar item, but this item would be more “in the now”… I think that would be more entertaining. I would shop here. And I would even take the time to stop and browse on the homepage. I say that now, but who really knows what I would do if that happened?

Clutter really makes me anxious. Most of the things that I would purchase here would end up as clutter in three years anyway. At the moment I would like a new phone and a gps system. WTF. I guess I could get both of those things combined into one. How ridiculous.

OMG, really? A political survey on the amazon home page. I am so ready for November 4, 2008 to be done with. What if that day never came. How much time would people feel they had wasted? Or breaths? I wonder who would live the longest if the only breaths you could get back were the ones that you used to talk about the 2008 election? Hmmm?!?

Goldsmith:

Stnemecalpdiap. Suhtiwesitrevda. Secivresbewnozama. Why do these all start (or end) with “s”? amazon, exclusives, ages costumes sports, II, Watch.

Costumes
Costumes
Costumes
Costumes

Oprah? Really?

Hello, sign in to get personalized recommendations. New customer? Start here.

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2.
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10.

Watch chronograph leather black men’s motorcycles triumph. Watch chronograph Navajo men’s gabbana & dolce. Watch chronograph diamond edition limited collection II Women’s Invicta. Watch aviator chronograph analog bezel rule slide men’s casio. Watch canvas chronograph men’s drive eco citizen. Watch elite chronograph sport collection II men’s invicta. Watch databank battery year 10 alarm chronograph sports men’s casio. Watch oversized collection corduba men’s invicta. Watch databank battery year 10 alarm chronograph sports men’s casio.

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64.36.82.50.10.58

The Limitless Mind Journey

On display while people are just staring. Global warming and starvation. The ice is melting and all that is around is greed and consumption. With the openess of children and the minds of curious cats they may have no idea what is coming. But why should they care. The bear has a wisdom far greater and one that can evolutionalize time. The socks will not protect the stripedness of the consumers eyes. Black as they no it the light will come and take over when no one has any idea of what has come. The truth will come and consume all who are in a whirlwind of madd chaos. Who shall be set free then? Are we all participants in this manner that consumes the animal brain? And why aren’t the faces of them showing? Only the bear can bare the bareness of his face. The others turn away and refuse to face what is truly there. They are left with a pointed finger and no face to show . How is it then that we condemn what is unknown, and who am I to decide this judgement? And after understanding and reading all of this the human mind is full of pure craziness. What is real and what isn’t? I don’t like to be told what or how to think and why is there no real way in surrealism? The forcefulness of opening the mind forever makes the mind more closed. If one is left to be okay with himself then one will eventually know what truth is. Maybe truth is what we all make of it. This is why we dress in this fashion with dresses and striped socks. But what about the men in knickers? Or would you even call them men? For some may say that the bear is not even real, it has been made out of imagination only.

The Wondrous Water Bottle

I was in California shopping a few weeks ago. I walked by this store and as I peered through the window I saw the coolest tree made out of empty water bottles. It definitely caught my attention; I couldn't help but walk into the store to check it out (if this was a marketing ploy it worked!). I was amazed by the creativity! Water bottles (or plastic bottles in general) are part of our everyday (though it is more environmentally friendly to use reusable bottles and/or coffee cups). As often as I have drunk from a water bottle, it has never crossed my mind to do something creative with it afterwards. I just thought this water bottle display added to the chic vibe of the store. With the holidays coming up, I think I have a new idea for a tree this year...

Speaking of water bottles... I went to get a bottle of water in between classes the other day, and as the cashier was ringing up my purchase we both realized that the water bottle had no label. I thought that was really random. The blankness of the bottle made it look so weird. Everyday we are subjected to so many labels and advertisements that it becomes the norm. It actually made me wonder if I should exchange the labelless bottle for another one that had a label (as if the water inside was contaminated or something). I ended up keeping the labelless bottle (in case you were wondering, the water was still good) and as I was leaving the cashier said, "I have never understood why they put the nutritional information on water anyway, it seems pointless!" 

 

 

An Aleatory Element

Here is a slideshow of random pictures I found while searching google. I did use an algorithmic style to finding these images. I used the title of our class: Performances, Community, Identity and Everyday Life...I typed each piece of the title separately into the google image search engine. Then, I took the first image that appeared on the first page, and the second image that appeared on the eleventh page. 

In Response to Today's Class...

No worries - odds seem to be in our favor...

However, this is missing a "video editing" category!

Charades

I recently played a game of celebrity charades. This involved acting out for your team whichever celebrity name you happened to draw from a jar (all of the participants wrote down 2 celebrity names before the start of the game). This was quite amusing considering the large group of people playing, their varying ages (25 - 67), and the alcoholic beverages consumed beforehand. This game definitely had significant time constraints; everything was rushed, and people were panicking trying to get through as many names as possible before their time ran out. It made me feel like I was in NYC during rush hour, fighting the line at Starbucks, and still expecting to make it to work on time - Sheesh! When reflecting on this game and my experience playing it I thought about the importance of language and verbal communication in our everyday lives. It was really difficult to only act and/or use motions and not be able to verbally communicate at all. Actions or movements that would have seemed to give good clues to teammates actually turned out to be pretty difficult to figure out. Maybe one of the reasons this game is so entertaining is because we aren't used to not using words to communicate. I also thought about the affect the media has on us. The celebrities that had recently been in the media (probably overly aired) were really easy to guess (Sarah Palin's name appeared in the jar 5 times). It was also interesting to think about the different perceptions people got from various nonverbal actions. This applies to everyday life because I think we often interpret things differently than how they really are. Our perceptions and experiences contribute significantly to how we interpret things around us, including other people.    

A Little Somthin' Different...

How do I get the Britney icon to go away? 

Dichotomy

Fast go-cart!

Everyday Critique

"Critique implies possibilities, and possibilities as yet unfulfilled. It is the task of critique to demonstrate what these possibilities and this lack of fulfilment are" (Henri Lefebvre, page 26). This quote caught my attention because I believe human beings spend a lot of their everyday lives critiquing. Life is an evaluation. A process of creating ideas and molding oneself and/or others to view the world through a particular lens. Is an opinion a critique? Do our critiques say a lot about us, or the thing that we are critiquing? What would a world void of criticism be like? Who determines our possibilities and how we fulfill them? I looked up critique in the dictionary (online) and I found a strange note included under the definition:

 

Usage Note: Critique has been used as a verb meaning "to review or discuss critically" since the 18th century, but lately this usage has gained much wider currency, in part because the verb criticize, once neutral between praise and censure, is now mainly used in a negative sense. But this use of critique is still regarded by many as pretentious jargon, although resistance appears to be weakening. In our 1997 ballot, 41 percent of the Usage Panel rejected the sentence As mock inquisitors grill him, top aides take notes and critique the answers with the President afterward. Ten years earlier, 69 percent disapproved of this same sentence. Resistance is still high when a person is critiqued: 60 percent of the Usage Panel rejects its use in the sentence Students are taught how to do a business plan and then are critiqued on it.Thus, it may be preferable to avoid this word. There is no exact synonym, but in most contexts one can usually substitute go over, review, or analyze. · Note, however, that critique is widely accepted as a noun in a neutral context; 86 percent of the Panel approved of its use in the sentence The committee gave the report a thorough critique and found it both informed and intelligent.

So "critique" is part of our everyday lives as human beings and we do it on a regular basis, but why do we disapprove so much when we are the ones being critiqued? Perhaps resistance to critique is a struggle for power and perceived truth.

20 Minutes of Nothing

I found that it was difficult for me to actually do nothing for 20 minutes. I had to plan out a time for this assignment to get done. When I sat down to “do” my 20 minutes of nothing, I started thinking about all of the other things that I needed to get done. I began to feel very overwhelmed. I realized that I often spend time thinking about what I need to do next or what needs to get done, and as a result I am rarely in the moment of “now”. I started looking at the framed pictures around me and noticed that the pictures captured me in that moment, but was I really mindfully present in that moment at that time? It saddened me to think that I probably wasn’t wholeheartedly. Fun times with friends and family would be much more enjoyable if I would seize that moment alone, and actually be present where I am. Life can be a busy thing when you are working full time and going to school; however, the blessings of everyday shouldn’t be surpassed because of the stress of a full agenda. The last 10 minutes of my 20 minutes of nothing was when I actually was starting to relax. I began to hear my body telling me that I was hungry and also that I had a toothache. My 20 minutes of nothing was coming to an end and I wanted to remain in “nothing mode”. Pausing for 20 minutes helped reiterate the importance of “seizing the day”. This new challenge is one I am excited to take on!