November 09, 2009
Kurt Schwitters
So Kurt Schwitters is a famous collage artist, generally considered one of the greatest of all time. And for some reason he thought he should branch into sound art. This was a bad decision. If he would have just experimented on his own, it would have been fine. But when he inflicted his creation on the rest of humanity, well, that's just cruel. This recording was basically a bunch of jibberish. He started off with some phrases of poetry, switching from German to French to English. But then he got into the baby talk. It was the most frustrating 20 minutes. He increased his phrases phoneme by phoneme, so it was like the simon says of sentences. Only, there was no payoff because I wasn't waiting to figure out what he was saying! Because he was saying nothing! I'm not quite sure what he was actually trying to do, whether he was literally just "experimenting" or if there was some concept behind it, but it is so not my cup of tea.
Posted by snessie at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2009
Earl Nightingale: After
So finally, oh happy day, the recording is done. Now, unfortunately, I have to write 250 words about my thoughts AFTER listening to the recordings. I think most of what he was talking about was a load of crap. How many times has someone had a great idea for a product, but big conglomerates won’t buy their product? That’s because they weren’t thinking hard enough about their success to get it, right? Or how about the people that randomly put videos up on Youtube because they think they’re funny and now have successful careers outside of internet videos? You think they really had their “goals” in mind while they were uploading a video of a dog and a goat making out? And talk about redundant. The guy went on for a half an hour about the EXACT SAME TOPIC! Ok! We get it! You think having goals/thinking about what you want is important! Point taken! I’m pretty sure you could have summed it up in a paragraph. It’s called a ‘thesis statement’, dude. I feel like a piece of my life was just wasted. Time I can never get back. Time I could have used succeeding… So if we go by Mr. Nightingale’s principles, did he fall out of popular favor because (as he says) he secretly wanted to? I wish someone would have posed that question to him. I would have gotten a giggle. I didn’t really want to listen to him in the first place, and I don’t plan on ever listening to him again.
Posted by snessie at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
Earl Nightingale: During
Ok, now I have to write 250 words while listening to Earl Nightingale drone on in the background. The sound quality of this recording is horrible. He sounds like he’s talking into a kazoo. I can’t believe I have to listen to a half an hour of this guy rant. You want the real secret to success? Do your work. Do it good. Don’t slack off. Alakazam! It’s magic! Honestly? Couldn’t he have written this all down in a book? I’m pretty sure this has nothing to do with how well I can operate Photoshop or Illustrator, or Processing. This is pointless. I’m pretty sure there are plenty of hard-working people that have goals…just because someone isn’t rich doesn’t mean they don’t have goals. Or vice versa. There are plenty of people that just fell into money or success. He’s making really broad generalizations as fact. There are a lot of exceptions to every case. I really don’t think the “strangest secret” will work THAT immediately on my life. How many people have thought or had dreams about what they wanted to be, and have lived their whole lives without getting what they want? Yeah. That’s a lot. So the slaves should have just thought about how they wanted to be free, and they’d be free? This guy sounds like he must have smoked two packs a day. Or he’s got a lion in his throat. I bet you he was really proud of himself for all of his analogies. I bet mom gave him a gold star. If I could tap into the other 90% of my mental capabilities, I’m pretty sure I’d have telekinesis. After 50 it’s all extrasensory. The 50’s so did not know stress. So people dying of starvation on the streets really secretly want to be there? Sure…
Posted by snessie at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2009
Earl Nightingale: Before
So as an assignment I'm supposed to listen to and write about this guy named Earl Nightingale, who was a self-help "guru" who was popular sometime in the '50s. Really, I see no relation between this and what I'm supposed to be learning in a "digital studio". This guy has got to have the shortest Wiki entry ever. He must not have been THAT awesome if no one wants to write about him. I’m supposed to write 250 words about the guy, but I don’t really know how I’m supposed to accomplish that considering I haven’t listened to the recording yet, and Wiki has nothing on him. I think this “assignment” is pointless. If I really wanted to listen to some boring guy rant for a few hours I could go down to Central Campus and listen to one of those religious fanatics tell me how much I’m going to burn in Hell. Actually, I might even prefer it. Seriously, this recording is over a half an hour long. Talk about a waste of resources. I could definitely be doing more valuable things with my time, like working on homework that actually applies to my life. So here are some facts on Earl Nightingale:
1. He was born on March 12, 1921
2. He is known as “The Dean of Personal Development”
3. He was on the USS Arizona during Pearl Harbor
4. He produced his motivational spoken word album The Strangest Secret in 1956
5. During his lifetime he wrote and recorded more than 7,000 radio programs
There. That’s my 250 words.
Posted by snessie at 01:39 PM | Comments (1)
