Warhol and Goldsmith Writings.

Warhol

So, I’m looking here at the front page of one of the great internet “selling” sites amazon.com. It’s amazing how many things you can buy just from your house. I don’t even have to get out of bed. Bring my food to my bed, switch on my TV’s, and purchase life’s necessities all at once. Ah look, rings “fit for a princess”, how nice would that look on her finger. I think she would like the Three-Stone Diamond Ring, seems like the biggest bang for the buck. I wonder how much it is. Eh I don’t care. Why do girls need rings anyways? Maybe to look just like a “princess” as the title says. Oh look, I can protect my phone. Why would I want to protect my phone? It’s worthless anyways. I might as well get a new phone. Or an iPod looks pretty nice. Touch iPod, sounds sexual. Oh good shoes, just what I need. Another pair of shoes to clutter up my closet and be left untouched just like the restof the pointless shoes in there. Although, those Steve Madden pumps are pretty cute. I wonder what people would think if a man wore those Steve Madden pumps? I would think he would look reasonably fashionable considering Steve Madden is a quite fashionable brand. If a man wants to wear pumps, let the man wear pumps,especially if he has good taste. Ok, so I’ve been I’m dire need for a new camera for years now. Just look, its right in front of my face. It’s on the front page of amazon.com! What would I do with my old camera? Throw it out and call it junk? I wonder how much junk is actually reusable.

Final Cut Pro Weather Edition.

Yesterdays weather felt like a version of a completely edited project in Final Cut Pro. First the dark clouds were cued in, then the rain was cued in - a little harder - now even more harder. Then flashes of light were edited into the clouds, along with a few sound bites of thunder. Stop the thunder, bring on the sun. But keep the rain throughout. Ok time to mark the end for the rain. Now cue in one more flash of light into the dark clouds, and a longer stream of sound for the thunder. Now lets end the video with a rainbow against the dark clouds - make that two rainbows.

Fascination.

It's wierd how were attracted to the little not so obvious things. I mean course were attracted to extravagant cars, beautiful people and things. But I'm talking the simplest things. This weekend was my birthday (yeah 22..no longer 21) and I got a card from my brother and sister-in-law, it was a musical card. But instead of being the one you open and it plays a sound, it was one in which there was a turning mechanism on the front of the card - you turn it and it plays a song. Everyone was so fascinated by that card. I passed it around and I swear during the remainder of the evening I heard that card play at LEAST 10 times. Also on the topic of fascination, my five-year-old sister got a little Dora shaved ice machine. After we were done opening presents, everyone was crowded around that ice machine waiting for the first sno-cone to be made. If were so fascinated by the most simple things, then why do we even need to have the extravagant items American's are so fond of (luxury cars, big houses, designer clothes, etc)?

Nadja.

I'm about half way through and so far, I'm a little lost. Nadja wasn't even mentioned (at least I don't think) until at least after the first 60 or so pages. Not only that, but I'm having a hard time following it, it seems quite random. I hope I'm not the only one having a hard time with this?

Greetings from #7.

Surrealism at its finest.

Surrealism [suh-ree-uh-liz-uh m] noun : not the definition you would find at Wikipedia.

What I got from the short film today were completely random happenings of which seemed completely "un"realistic. Ants crawling out of a hole in a mans palm, a man all of a sudden collapsing on his bike while in motion, books turning into pistols, etc. I sure am not an expert on surrealism but I can take a guess. I believe that this short film was a mixture of half realism, and half surrealism. For example:

Realism: After the man fell from his bike he was somehow dead.

Surrealism: The woman set his clothes (which were really woman's clothes) onto her bed and stared at them, in which she looked like she was determined to stare him back to life again.

Realism: The man was forced to stand in the corner by what it seemed another man he wasn't too fond of. He then had books placed on his palms in which he had to hold up.

Surrealism: Those books then turned into pistols and he shot the other man which he wasn't too fond of.

Again, I'm no expert but I thought I would take a stab at it. Afterall, what really defines an expert? Is there a certain "expert" test you need to pass?

Life.

L I F E

The game of Life is structured in a way so that at the beginning of the game you skip your childhood and either go straight to college or start a career. The game is a shorter version of life itself with achievements and downfalls as you go along. In one short hour or two you see your “character” as one might call it, starting in his/her twenties I might assume, and ending in retirement. This game reflects the “real world” by putting some real world issues on the board such as “paying for your kids to go to college”, getting married, buying a house, buying stock, paydays, and having kids (well just sticking the colored pegs onto your car..), and it also puts some real world issues that hardly ever happen only if your so lucky as to land on the square per say. “Everyday life” is in the game of Life. The game of Life just makes “everyday life” seem that much more exciting. Every little square in the game of Life I land on has some sort of monetary value or “LIFE” written on it which almost makes this game of Life much more suspenseful than REAL life. All in all, we can’t finish college in a couple spins, we don’t get to choose our income from either “$20,000, $50,000, or $100,000”, and we don’t retire within two hours. If this game of Life was life, I'd be a doctor, living in a tudor, making $100,000 every payday...

Satisfaction guaranteed?

I have found myself at a wierd point in my life. I still live at my parents house, I don't have much money because of school, and I still don't have my own car, yet I'm completely satisfied. My birthday is even coming up (in 4 days!! Woohoo!) and yet I couldn't think of anything I wanted. Maybe its because I never get anything I want so its hard for me to think of something I actually want? Or maybe at this point in my life I'm satisfied with everything I have at the moment. Or it could be that I'm going on the trip of my lifetime this summer, to Cabo and I don't feel the need to want anything else...However this is strangely odd because I'm always always wanting something I can't have, I mean doesn't everyone at some point?

"Quote" from The Everyday.

“Whatever its other aspects, the everyday has this essential trait: it allows no hold. It escapes…the everyday is what we never see for a first time, but only see again, having always already seen it by an illusion that is, as it happens, constitutive of the everyday.” (p.36)

Reading through this book has been difficult, not only the word choice has been difficult but also the concepts. It was hard for me to find a quote or paragraph that I could understand to even reflect on. So although this may seen like an easy paragraph, I had to start somewhere…

The everyday life “allows no hold” in that time is constantly moving. There is not an instant where time has stopped. You yourself can stop and sit still for minutes, even hours, but everything else in the whole world continues. Even upon the death of a family member, the rest of the world is not in mourning, it keeps on moving; people go to work, walk their dogs, make a meal, etc. After those people have walked their dogs, that time spent walking their dog is gone. You don’t stop to think about how after your done walking your dog, that time you spent with your dog will be gone forever. “It escapes..”(36) states Maurice Blanchot. That everyday moment is no longer with you. “…the everyday is what we never see for a first time, but only see again, having always already seen it by an illusion that is, as it happens, constitutive of the everyday.” This statement means that the everyday is a thing, action, act, etc that we do on a monthly, daily, hourly basis. It is something that is so repetitive and common, we either do it many a times or we’ve seen someone else do it many a times.

When writing my response, my quote I picked reminded me of the movie Pleasantville. That movie to me depicts the definition of "everyday life". Which is why I attached a picture of a scene from Pleasantville.

Grocery directory.

Early for work, I decided to stop at the nearby Top Foods. However, I don't usually ever shop at Top Foods. My domain consists of; Safeway, Albertsons, and Fred Meyers. All I wanted fro Top Foods was a nice cold drink to go with my lunch I brought. You think I could find it? No. I was searching the whole parameter of the store for at least ten minutes. Then in one little corner near the front hiding behind the beers and wine, I found the cold drinks. If they only had a store directory in front as I walked in, it would have probabaly shaved off seven minutes.

House?

No I'm not talking about the television show. I'm talking about a thing with sides and a roof. The thing that most of us take forgranted everyday.

I was about to go somewhere the other day (I forget where) and all of a sudden I stopped at my front door and looked around. I thought to myself, I am incredibly lucky to be living under this thing. I'm sheltered from rain, from the cold, from bugs, and from the coyotes that lurk outside. It might not be the nicest thing, but it protects me. When it comes to shelter, it doesn't matter if you have a mansion or a trailer.