Family:
Where I Came From...
My Punctum God
Antidefinition of my name
Punctum Meanings of images
Party Central
Trying to connect my thoughts
Career:
Links that have to do with my profession
My 'fetish'
Remix Culture
Style as a rhetorical concept
Entertainment:
Emma Watson
Entertainment and Fiction
Emblem
Pale September
Etymological definition of fantasy
High concept
RSA animate
Community:
Home page
Emergency and Exigence
Edward Rutledge
Columbia and Lexington
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
RSA animate videos
I very much enjoyed the video watched during the last day of class. As interesting and illuminating as his argument was (and it was!), what struck me was the method of delivery. I very much agreed with a comment made on the youtube video.
"I think the genius in this vid is not necessary just the idea but also how it approaches our generation visually. I mean if this was in a lecture set up with one guy talking, how many people would still watch it. It's really interesting how visual our country has become and really makes me think about how we are changing."
This alludes to a previous discussion on the lack of attention span of today's generation. It is absolutely true that in order for many of today's video consumers to pay attention to anything, especially rhetorical argument, one must utilize visual techniques, and humor. RSA animate does exactly that, in an incredibly expert way. It is what I hope to do in my career: marry previously defined style and content.
"I think the genius in this vid is not necessary just the idea but also how it approaches our generation visually. I mean if this was in a lecture set up with one guy talking, how many people would still watch it. It's really interesting how visual our country has become and really makes me think about how we are changing."
This alludes to a previous discussion on the lack of attention span of today's generation. It is absolutely true that in order for many of today's video consumers to pay attention to anything, especially rhetorical argument, one must utilize visual techniques, and humor. RSA animate does exactly that, in an incredibly expert way. It is what I hope to do in my career: marry previously defined style and content.
High Concept of my mystory
"A girl flits through life immersing herself in beautiful images and stories of fantastical people and places, thereby willingly losing touch with reality."
Sounds like a perfect [-ly boring] movie, right?
This could be tied into something we talked about earlier in the semester when focusing on Warnick - how through electracy, we lose touch with human interaction, lose the ability for face-to-face conversation. I suggest that through my obsession with fantasy fiction combined with my own participation in electracy, I have the same loss of social skills.
Sounds like a perfect [-ly boring] movie, right?
This could be tied into something we talked about earlier in the semester when focusing on Warnick - how through electracy, we lose touch with human interaction, lose the ability for face-to-face conversation. I suggest that through my obsession with fantasy fiction combined with my own participation in electracy, I have the same loss of social skills.
Style as a Rhetorical concept
The forest of rhetoric defines style as:
"Style concerns the artful expression of ideas. If invention addresses what is to be said; style addresses how this will be said. From a rhetorical perspective style is not incidental, superficial, or supplementary: style names how ideas are embodied in language and customized to communicative contexts (see Content / Form).
Because of the centrality of style, rhetoricians have given great attention to every aspect of linguistic form—so much so that rhetoric has at times been equated with (or reduced to) "mere style," as though rhetoric were concerned only with superficial ornamentation.
But ornamentation was not at all superficial in classical and renaissance rhetoric, for to ornament (ornare = "to equip, fit out, or supply") meant to equip one's thoughts with verbal expression appropriate for accomplishing one's intentions.
Upon this basic principle of style there has been agreement, but less so respecting how matters of style have been mapped within the rhetorical tradition, especially with respect to categorizing the figures of speech."
Ulmer did not specifically discuss style, but he did emphasize the form of certain narratives, such as the haiku form and high-style.
On page 46, Ulmer discusses Barthes perspective on haiku imagery:
"haiku is not a model but a relay showing how to move beyond the antidefinition of modernist poetics to the use of imaging as a mode of reason. The lesson is not to abandon logic for poetry, but to see that images may be a mode of logic that opens up a different dimension of experience for thought."
Page 196 explains the definition of high concept:
"A manifestation of the X-Y dialogic of the riddle in entertainment practices is known as 'high concept,' the one-liner captions used to pitch and even to write narratives..."
On page 197, he talks about high concept, and even references haiku:
"The mystory is a high concept meeting of discourse figures whose only connection is you. High concept is Hollywood haiku."
Basically, Ulmer takes style and relates it to what is very important in switching from literacy to electracy: brevity. He emphasizes not ornamenting one's words with descriptive qualifiers, but conveying the most meaning possible in as little space as possible. This ties into the remix technology and the short attention span that consumers have these days. All in all, Ulmer marries an important rhetorical concept and an important Internet concept into what consumers want these days.
Style is what my career is all about: embellishing content in order for the content to be more easily swallowed.
"Style concerns the artful expression of ideas. If invention addresses what is to be said; style addresses how this will be said. From a rhetorical perspective style is not incidental, superficial, or supplementary: style names how ideas are embodied in language and customized to communicative contexts (see Content / Form).
Because of the centrality of style, rhetoricians have given great attention to every aspect of linguistic form—so much so that rhetoric has at times been equated with (or reduced to) "mere style," as though rhetoric were concerned only with superficial ornamentation.
But ornamentation was not at all superficial in classical and renaissance rhetoric, for to ornament (ornare = "to equip, fit out, or supply") meant to equip one's thoughts with verbal expression appropriate for accomplishing one's intentions.
Upon this basic principle of style there has been agreement, but less so respecting how matters of style have been mapped within the rhetorical tradition, especially with respect to categorizing the figures of speech."
Ulmer did not specifically discuss style, but he did emphasize the form of certain narratives, such as the haiku form and high-style.
On page 46, Ulmer discusses Barthes perspective on haiku imagery:
"haiku is not a model but a relay showing how to move beyond the antidefinition of modernist poetics to the use of imaging as a mode of reason. The lesson is not to abandon logic for poetry, but to see that images may be a mode of logic that opens up a different dimension of experience for thought."
Page 196 explains the definition of high concept:
"A manifestation of the X-Y dialogic of the riddle in entertainment practices is known as 'high concept,' the one-liner captions used to pitch and even to write narratives..."
On page 197, he talks about high concept, and even references haiku:
"The mystory is a high concept meeting of discourse figures whose only connection is you. High concept is Hollywood haiku."
Basically, Ulmer takes style and relates it to what is very important in switching from literacy to electracy: brevity. He emphasizes not ornamenting one's words with descriptive qualifiers, but conveying the most meaning possible in as little space as possible. This ties into the remix technology and the short attention span that consumers have these days. All in all, Ulmer marries an important rhetorical concept and an important Internet concept into what consumers want these days.
Style is what my career is all about: embellishing content in order for the content to be more easily swallowed.
Etymological Search of "fantasy"
fantasy (n.) early 14c., "illusory appearance," from O.Fr. fantaisie (14c.) "vision, imagination," from L. phantasia, from Gk. phantasia "appearance, image, perception, imagination," from phantazesthai "picture to oneself," from phantos "visible," from phainesthai "appear," in late Greek "to imagine, have visions," related to phaos, phos "light," phainein "to show, to bring to light" (see phantasm). Sense of "whimsical notion, illusion" is pre-1400, followed by that of "imagination," which is first attested 1530s. Sense of "day-dream based on desires" is from 1926.
The etymological definition of my favorite genre of fiction is incredibly revealing of my person. I have said before that I am an aesthete, involving imagination and vision. I have also said that my head is in the clouds, which involves the "day-dream based on desires" portion. "Whimsical" is a perfect word to describe me, which I looked up in the dictionary and it didn't have too revealing of an etymological history, so I tried similar words, like quirky or eccentric, until I found "weird."
weird O.E. wyrd "fate, destiny" (n.), lit. "that which comes," from P.Gmc. *wurthis (cf. O.S. wurd, O.H.G. wurt "fate," O.N. urðr "fate, one of the three Norns"), from PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," (cf. Ger. werden, O.E. weorðan "to become"), from base *wer- "to turn, bend" (see versus). For sense development from "turning" to "becoming," cf. phrase turn into "become." The modern sense of weird developed from M.E. use of weird sisters for the three fates or Norns (in Germanic mythology), the goddesses who controlled human destiny. They were usually portrayed as odd or frightening in appearance, as in "Macbeth," which led to the adj. meaning "odd-looking, uncanny," first recorded 1815.
I had no idea that up until Shakespeare's Macbeth, weird was just another word for destiny or fate. Or, "to turn, wind." (note "wind" is the first part of my last name.) So weird meant fate, until the use of the three fates, or Weird Sisters, in MacBeth led to it being used as "odd-looking, uncanny." This is truly fascinating, as it is a slightly derogatory adjective now, though it is also used among circles like mine as an affectionate description. Also fascinating is that the "Weird Sisters" are minor characters in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series. I didn't even know they were based on historical literary/mythological characters. Her genius amazes me more and more every day.
So, note that the etymology of "fantasy" described my personality completely, and led me to "weird", which cast certain light on the history of my oddity and had links to my name and my Harry Potter obsession. Fun associations abound!
The etymological definition of my favorite genre of fiction is incredibly revealing of my person. I have said before that I am an aesthete, involving imagination and vision. I have also said that my head is in the clouds, which involves the "day-dream based on desires" portion. "Whimsical" is a perfect word to describe me, which I looked up in the dictionary and it didn't have too revealing of an etymological history, so I tried similar words, like quirky or eccentric, until I found "weird."
weird O.E. wyrd "fate, destiny" (n.), lit. "that which comes," from P.Gmc. *wurthis (cf. O.S. wurd, O.H.G. wurt "fate," O.N. urðr "fate, one of the three Norns"), from PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," (cf. Ger. werden, O.E. weorðan "to become"), from base *wer- "to turn, bend" (see versus). For sense development from "turning" to "becoming," cf. phrase turn into "become." The modern sense of weird developed from M.E. use of weird sisters for the three fates or Norns (in Germanic mythology), the goddesses who controlled human destiny. They were usually portrayed as odd or frightening in appearance, as in "Macbeth," which led to the adj. meaning "odd-looking, uncanny," first recorded 1815.
I had no idea that up until Shakespeare's Macbeth, weird was just another word for destiny or fate. Or, "to turn, wind." (note "wind" is the first part of my last name.) So weird meant fate, until the use of the three fates, or Weird Sisters, in MacBeth led to it being used as "odd-looking, uncanny." This is truly fascinating, as it is a slightly derogatory adjective now, though it is also used among circles like mine as an affectionate description. Also fascinating is that the "Weird Sisters" are minor characters in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series. I didn't even know they were based on historical literary/mythological characters. Her genius amazes me more and more every day.
So, note that the etymology of "fantasy" described my personality completely, and led me to "weird", which cast certain light on the history of my oddity and had links to my name and my Harry Potter obsession. Fun associations abound!
Pale September Lyric Evaluation
Pale September, I wore the time like a dress that year
The autumn days swung soft around me, like cotton on my skin
But as the embers of the summer lost their breath and disappeared
My heart went cold and only hollow rhythms resounded from within
But then he rose, brilliant as the moon in full
And sank in the burrows of my keep
And all my armour falling down, in a pile at my feet
And my winter giving way to warm, as I'm singing him to sleep
He goes along just as a water lily
Gentle on the surface of his thoughts his body floats
Unweighted down by passion or intensity
Yet unaware of the depth upon which he coasts
And he finds a home in me
For what misfortune sows, he knows my touch will reap
And all my armour failing down, in a pile at my feet
And my winter giving way to warm, as I'm singing him to sleep
All my armour falling down, in a pile at my feet
And my winter giving way to warm, as I'm singing him to sleep
In the Lyric Evaluation Exercise on page 223 in Ulmer's Internet Invention, he asks for the reader to analyze the relationship of a favorite song's lyrics and the atmosphere of the music.
Fiona Apple's lyrics are some of the most poetic lyrics of a current artist that I've heard. This song is intensely sensual without being obscene, both in the lyrics and the melodic delivery. The lyrical situation is that of love reawakening in Apple's narrator, and the delivery is giving in a slow, ever-so-slightly slurred style which is Apple's specialty, denoting sensory happiness and the losing of oneself in the actions of the lyrics. The style of the music is slow and serene, much like the slow, sleepy transition from chill to warmth that the narrator undergoes.
The autumn days swung soft around me, like cotton on my skin
But as the embers of the summer lost their breath and disappeared
My heart went cold and only hollow rhythms resounded from within
But then he rose, brilliant as the moon in full
And sank in the burrows of my keep
And all my armour falling down, in a pile at my feet
And my winter giving way to warm, as I'm singing him to sleep
He goes along just as a water lily
Gentle on the surface of his thoughts his body floats
Unweighted down by passion or intensity
Yet unaware of the depth upon which he coasts
And he finds a home in me
For what misfortune sows, he knows my touch will reap
And all my armour failing down, in a pile at my feet
And my winter giving way to warm, as I'm singing him to sleep
All my armour falling down, in a pile at my feet
And my winter giving way to warm, as I'm singing him to sleep
In the Lyric Evaluation Exercise on page 223 in Ulmer's Internet Invention, he asks for the reader to analyze the relationship of a favorite song's lyrics and the atmosphere of the music.
Fiona Apple's lyrics are some of the most poetic lyrics of a current artist that I've heard. This song is intensely sensual without being obscene, both in the lyrics and the melodic delivery. The lyrical situation is that of love reawakening in Apple's narrator, and the delivery is giving in a slow, ever-so-slightly slurred style which is Apple's specialty, denoting sensory happiness and the losing of oneself in the actions of the lyrics. The style of the music is slow and serene, much like the slow, sleepy transition from chill to warmth that the narrator undergoes.
Remix culture and my career
Previously mentioned, I am a follower of many blogs. I mentioned the blog of Communication Arts and HOW magazines, but I did not mention the other magazine that helps form the graphic design trifecta. Print magazine, the blog of which is Imprint.
The other day, while catching up on the thousands of unread blog posts in my feed, I stumbled on this little gem on Imprint.
Despite the fairly awful picture, this article speaks volumes to me about what we have been talking about in class, and conveniently marries this rhetorical concept of remixing with my career! My favorite quote of the article: "This is no longer just comedy, this is now cultural critique." Amen. To perform a polygamous marriage to another aspect of my mystory's popcycle, this can also be joined to the entertainment portion of my life. One thing I learned from Outlander and adapted to my own ideology is that our culture is so harmfully consumptive, that is, we have lost sight of what is important and are focused solely on monetary and sensory gain. Paula Deen, nice, Southern, butter-lovin lady that she is, has unwillingly become the emblem of sorts for certain subculture's criticism of this movement. For some reason, her love of horrendously unhealthy southern cooking has become a symbol for the disastrously degenerative effects that consumption has had on our culture. And when Daniel Ryan created the Deen remix, he made a cultural critique (that many viewers probably don't even realize) through a medium that speaks to today's youtube generation. Though cultural criticism can still be bought in book form, or article form, smart modern folks know that our attention spans are waning daily, and the best way to reach young adults is through avenues like remix videos. (Basically, criticizing the monster through a symbol of that monster. Makes for a good sociological analysis, huh?)
The other day, while catching up on the thousands of unread blog posts in my feed, I stumbled on this little gem on Imprint.
Despite the fairly awful picture, this article speaks volumes to me about what we have been talking about in class, and conveniently marries this rhetorical concept of remixing with my career! My favorite quote of the article: "This is no longer just comedy, this is now cultural critique." Amen. To perform a polygamous marriage to another aspect of my mystory's popcycle, this can also be joined to the entertainment portion of my life. One thing I learned from Outlander and adapted to my own ideology is that our culture is so harmfully consumptive, that is, we have lost sight of what is important and are focused solely on monetary and sensory gain. Paula Deen, nice, Southern, butter-lovin lady that she is, has unwillingly become the emblem of sorts for certain subculture's criticism of this movement. For some reason, her love of horrendously unhealthy southern cooking has become a symbol for the disastrously degenerative effects that consumption has had on our culture. And when Daniel Ryan created the Deen remix, he made a cultural critique (that many viewers probably don't even realize) through a medium that speaks to today's youtube generation. Though cultural criticism can still be bought in book form, or article form, smart modern folks know that our attention spans are waning daily, and the best way to reach young adults is through avenues like remix videos. (Basically, criticizing the monster through a symbol of that monster. Makes for a good sociological analysis, huh?)
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