Golan Levin Interview

I found Levin to be extremely knowledgable not only on new technologies, but how to predict the newest ones. He spoke about how you can just go to a technology conference, which are there to go over everything in general, and easily predict what the next "big thing" is yourself. I thought his visual effects were very cool and in context with his interview, but I also felt it took away from my concentration. Especially when the camera went below his hands and was showing his hand gestures. I found it interesting how he predicted that the year 2012 would be a year of 3 Dimensioning, and we can look back now and see that it actually was. I thought it was even more helpful watching this interview years after it was filmed rather than right then, so we are able to compare and contrast.

5 Artists

R&B
Billy Ocean is a British recording artist who had a string of R&B international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s, and was the most popular British R&B singer-songwriter of the early to mid-1980s.Ocean's period of greatest success began with the releases, during 1984, of the album "Suddenly" and its main single, "Caribbean Queen." The song's title were changed for different regions, so the song is also known as "African Queen" or "European Queen." The song won Ocean the Grammy Award for best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 1985 Grammy Awards.

Pop

As an American recording artist and entertainer, Brittany Spears Signed with Jive Records in 1997, kicking off the beginning of her outstanding pop career. Spears' first and second studio albums, "Baby One More Time" and "Oops!….I Did it again," became international successes, and made Spears have the best-selling albumen by a teenage solo artist. I have always found this interesting because her career has been long and successful. She was very popular and people idolized her when I was young, and many still do today. Those songs were just the starting point for her.

Links to her two most famous songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CduA0TULnow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-u5WLJ9Yk4

Dub Step
"Zeds Dead" is a Canadian dub step duo from Toronto, Ontario. The band consists of Dylan Mamid, known as DC, and Zach Rapp-Rovan, known as hooks. DC and Hooks have been producing music together since 2004, formerly as "Mass Productions." The two recently held a concert at Hogans beach yesterday, April 27th which was a huge success. 

Punk
"Minor threat" was a hardcore rock (punk) band that formed in 1980 in Washington D.C. Even though the band didn't last long and broke up not long after they came together, they had a large influence on the punk scene in the 1980s. In fact, their song "Straight Edge," became the basis of the Straight Edge movement, a subculture movement when people restrained from using alcohol and tobacco. I thought this was very interesting in that everyone always has stereotypes against punk rock bands, thinking they drink and do too many drugs.

The Link to their famous song "Straight Edge"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OSnAPxyMzo&feature=kp

Girl Power
"The Spice Girls" were a British pop girl group that formed together in 1994. The group consisted of five members, who each later adopted nicknames initially ascribed to them, based on their actions and appearance. Their many songs including "If you wanna be my lover," about how the man in the relationship needs to be friends with their friends before anything gets serious. This symbolized the saying feminists often say, "chicks before dicks."

Performance Art Project

My performance art project consisted of having my friend lie on the sidewalk while I traced him with sidewalk chalk. As a journalism student,  I have to interview various people and ask them questions/get to know them at different dimensions and every angle. I decided to use the tracing as a metaphor for getting to know the person in their entirety.

My friend laid sprawled out on his back by one of the busiest streets in Tampa right by a traffic light, so people could stop and stare when the light was red. Someone walked by and gave us a few glances, and others honked from their car. After a couple of minutes, a woman (from UT) pulled up to us in a golf cart to make sure we were okay. (I guess my friend looked like he may be unconscious). I know that this is also similar to what people do to a dead body at a crime scene, so I understand why it may have worried people. I just smiled and said that we were okay. Overall, I think it was successful and got a lot of attention from the street.

Steve Jobs-205 Commencement Address

Jobs was the perfect person for this speech because he made his living off of the selling of products. Commencement speeches are used to serve as a motivational boost to get a college class to strive in their careers out in the real world. I thought it was a little ironic how he dropped out of college and then came to deliver a commencement ceremony speech. However, he really did motivate the crown and used a few personal stories to deliver a strong persuasive side. I also thought it was a little funny out he brought up how Microsoft stole from him. He used it to serve a positive message towards

the crowd, but I didn't think it was necessary. 

The fact that he went from sleeping on friends' floors and returning coke bottles and cans for five cents, to being one of the richest people in the country amazes me. I think seeing and hearing about people who really did come from "rock bottom" serve a huge motivational purpose, and help a crown of thriving college students want to become something important.

Douglas Engelbart

After researching Douglas Engelbart, I have learned that he is fascinating in that he seems like he is always ahead of his time. This helped him strive in his career in developing technology to augment human intellect. One of his inventions that I find that most relevant today in that we still use them, is the computer mouse, which was developed in the 1960s but not commercially developed until the 1980s. Weird! The fact that computer mouses are still used in the 2014 makes it amazing that they were not used for 20 years after the initial invention. One of his quotes I found most inspiring is when he said,
        "How can my career maximize my contribution to mankind?"
He is one of the most motivated role models that prove that the sky is the limit. Don't settle for marriage, a family and a steady job, contribute to the world and make your life worth living.

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Mark Snyder Performance

Mark Snyder created an awesome performance using multimedia compositions. I thought both aspects, along with a dark room, brought about a smooth, emotional performance. Snyder produced soundscapes that enveloped the audience and charged arrangements that came straight from the moving image. Even though his original tunes didn't come from any type of music I normally listen to, the power of music and colored-design can really set someone in a mental place they wouldn't have gone otherwise. I thought the final performers who played the harp and sang vocals really hyphened the environment that Snyder had already created. They played perfectly together and everything was insyc, like they all had a decent amount experience working with one another, even though I believe the other performers were students. I thought the performance was amazing and would love to research Snyder more in-depth to expose myself to his other performances and teaching methods.

Alan Turing-"The Gay Man Who Saved the World" (Extra Credit)

Alan Turing was not only a British mathematician. He was a logician, cryptanalyst, computer scientist and philosopher, that not only stood up to the Nazi Enigma code but also helped break it. I think the pardoning of this mans accusations after he committed suicide creates a strong and powerful meaning, not only given to his life but to many others that have acted out similarly. This article featured served as a clear pathway to other people to do what is right, giving a perfect example that you will never be forgotten for these actions. In a way it makes me sad because he was never able to see what a role model he is today, and that he died not knowing that the act of cracking the German Enigma messages did any good. In reality, he saved not only gay people from the Nazi but many others who were being targeted. These people need to be more frequently recognized in our society.

Xerox Project

I originally got this idea from my passion for the ocean. I had brought down my scuba mask from home to take on spring break with me, so I had the idea of making a human-type octopus in between my surrounding sea posters, giving the scans a little context. I scanned a different bracelet on each arm, and moved my tattoo up to the center of each palm since the bracelets were covering a permanent part of me. I also used a crown that I made for my sorority's bid night last year. 

What I found interesting was that my roommate told me it reminded her of Kali, a Hindu goddess. When I researched her I realized my arms, jewelry and crown looked very much like it resembled her. I thought it was cool when Prof. Echeverry told me I may have subconsciously done this because I was her in another life. It's amazing what can happen when I try and get creative!

CLASS COMMENTS:

Gina- Very cute idea! I liked how she used the scans to actually make something she can use in the future. Even though it would be a little weird to wear on a normal night out, it is stylish in her own way because it reflects extremely well who she is. Maybe it could make this years halloween costume!

Andrea- I also liked Andreas in that she can wear her scans and use the shirt in the future. My favorite part were her lip scans, sort of reminding me of the rolling stones logo. I would have like to see more scans on the shirt, there was a lot more space and she had some really cool ideas!

Bryan- I really liked how creepy he made the toilet look. Even though I couldn't tell what that the eyes were actually eyes and the toilet was actually a toilet at first, it had an interesting concept. I would have liked to see a connection between the eyes and the toilet..did he have an uncovered idea that no one new about/could see?

Holly- Her overall idea and representation of her good and bad sides of college was awesome. It was interesting how she had money scanned in the middle because it was a mix of both. 

Spencer- Really cool, complex idea. There was so much to it and I loved the sign language stating "when one door closes, another opens." The fact that his scans were actually on a physical door made it in perfect context.

Kyle- I loved how his hat had a the Boston logo on the front, making it seem like an actual Boston hat when the scan he used was of his tattoo. It was an interesting thing to put in the middle to base all of his other body parts around. Even though the hat was small, I liked the hat idea because it can be used as some type of costume in the future (like Gina and Andrea's).

Marvin- This was an awesome African mask! It's cool that he related it to his background of African decent; it made his piece personalized and meaningful. I also loved how the hands reached out at different angles to make a design.

Ralph- Awesome! It's funny how we were just talking about "rotten fruit," and it was so cool how he made his project based around Easter (because it is Easter time). What made it even better was the fact that he hung them all from the tree, putting it in the "rotten fruit" context. Congrats on the art show!!!