Curation Post #3: 5/22/13

Search

Now that we're deep into our curation, my searching has almost come to a hault. Of course I'm always going to be looking for other things to create and enjoy, but right now it seems to me that my main focus is creating my actual page. I want my page to look organized and inviting

I guess you could say that I have been 'searching' for other types of examples to see how they organize and arrange their pages. I don't want something that is cluttered or annoying or too hard to learn. I'm trying to find the right website/tool to really express my love for what I'm doing.


Evaluate

One thing that I've started to notice is that it's going to be really hard to make all of these projects myself. Everything is going to take a lot of time, which frankly, I don't have a lot of at the end of the year. Trying to find the balance of what to make is hard because some of these materials are a little more expensive than what a high school senior tring to pay for college can afford. So I've decided that instead of making all of them, I'm going to make very detailed instructions and pictures to go along with them. Even though individually these crafts might be inexpensive, all together they really are quite expensive together.

Organize

So since I've come to this relization of how much money I would've had to spend, I need to now think of an interesting way to organize my page so it's interesting and it doesn't look like I'm uneducated in this subject. I want to make this page impressive, and I really want to love what my outcome is. As I have stated before, I'm a fairly organized person, and even though I don't look like it, I kinda like the preppy way of organization. I love clean cut, straight lines, and or course... Pastels. I want a page that screams 'you're going to have fun' with a mixture of 'you're going to learn'. I love that combination and I want to make that apparent.

Design

From doing this curation I have obviously learned a lot about how to do a curation, but I've also learned a lot about myself. I'm learning how I like to design a project. For instance, I find that I'm a way better smaller assignments type of person. I suck at pulling things like this together last minute. It's because I feel like a curation is an on-going conversation or a progressive thought. I would understandably have trouble with putting a full conversations worth of thoughts and ideas into one night, but I can crank out a paper in one night. I can do that because a paper is one thought that you need to elaborate on. I feel like the reason I like this project so much is because I'm able to go a little bipolar with it. It really makes me go into deeper and cooler places I've never been berfore.

Narrate

My next 3 steps that I have to take include:

1. Finding out how much I am really able to spend(if any) on this project - Listen, I'm saving up for college on top of the fact that I'm a cheap person. I don't want to go broke because I have to do a project for school (no offense). And taking more hours at the movie theatre honestly sounds like hell.

2. Write out the instructions in a clear and interesting way - I don't want people to run and hide because I have some text. I need to make things clean, quick and if I can, funny.

3. Finding a way to design my page - I want my page to be exciting, fun and thrifty. I want it to be eye-catching and one of a kind. I want this to be a beautiful page, and a labor of love.

I think that maybe one thing that could work more smoothly is my brain. My brain underestimated how much this was going to take. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the creativity here, but this is taking a lot more intensive thinking than I thought it would. I really love this project, and I want to make it into something that I'm proud of, I just want it to go well at the same time.

Curation Post #1: 5/8/13

Search

While searching online for my topic, I really thought about stuff that I love to do. I thought about Improv, and trying to make that into my project, but honestly it was just confusing, and seemed like it would take away all of the fun of Improv. Besides, you can't really teach improv, you need to do it. 

So when I thought about the next best thing, I thought about my love for crafts. I spend a lot of my time looking online for cool things to create and call my own. I got the idea of my angle from the fact that I'm going to college next year. I want my angle to be things that you can find in a home, or for myself, a dorm. I want to make the place I live a crafty and comfortable place.

Evaluate

While searching for cool things to make, I've found many awesome things. Things that can be made cheaply, and efficiently. One thing that I really am interested in making is this:

http://pinterest.com/pin/168392473537417788/

It's a lamp that is made out of a strainer. I think that it is super original, and it really would be impressive. I don't know how to do wiring and electrical things, but I'm willing to learn to make that work.

Organize

I am a fairly organized person, but these craft projects help me become less rigid with my life. When I'm making a craft, I'm able to just be me and throw whatever I want where ever I want. When I do crafts, I like to make a ton of them, not just one. I'm almost a binge crafter. It actually gets a little insane. But when it comes down to it, I am organized with what I'm doing. I actually have a running Google Doc of things that I want to do. And honestly, I never follow instructions. I know that might end up badly sometimes, but I hate instructions. I just do what I think is right so it is truly mine.

Design

This week has provided me with a lot of information of what I actually want to do. I want to design fun things for your living space. I want my home and your home to feel like home. I want it to feel like yours. My website is not going to have places for you to buy what I have created... You have to do it yourself. I'm going to give descriptions of what steps to take, but in all honesty, you're going to be the one creating what you want to create.

I don't want this to be a textbook of creativity. I don't even think that exists.

Narrate

My next 3 steps that I have to take include:

1. Finding more interesting things to create - I really need to keep looking on websites such as Pinterest, Etsy, Wanelo & Tumblr. I think that those websites give great insight into things that I'm interested in.

2. Buy my materials - I'm really interested in keeping all of this extremely cost effective. You want your home to be crafty, not the Taj Mahal, and since I'm not made of money, I'm going to try and keep this as cheap as possible. I know I'm a cheapskate, but at least I can admit it, right?

3. Start crafting & documenting - In all honesty with this one I just need to pop in a Stand Up Comedy Marathon, and just work until my fingers fall off. Once I'm started, you can't stop me.

I think that one thing that could make this work more smoothly is getting all of the materials. I also need just some time. But that's not too hard. I'm a person that almost always needs to be doing something, so this shouldn't be a problem. Overall, I'm in love with this project so far.

Captured Thought: The Opposite Effect

These past few weeks while we were watching Exit Through the Gift Shop I was completely fascinated by this whole idea of "street art". These pieces were so cool that I found myself being able to push past the ridiculous names and actually listen to them. I felt like my actual brain was free and I was watching something original and culture-changing. I felt like it was something important.

Obviously, I'm all one for self-expression. I'm in theater, but on top of that i express myself in the way I dress, the way I speak, the way I interact... But watching Thierry "express" himself made me down right angry.

Street art was supposed to be this really cool, calm and collected thing. You were supposed to almost stand back, and just let people enjoy your work. Thierry threw himself in there, and completely became a huge tool in my opinion. His pieces were cool, but not original. He wasn't a full diva, but he certainly was not a nice guy. And on top of that, he almost completely abandoned his family. At the end of the film it stated that "Deborah was still raising their children." SHE was.

For the lack of a better word, Thierry lacked class. I don't mean 'pinky out' or 'no elbows on the table'. I mean, he didn't sit back. Instead, he added a stupid pair of sunglasses to his facade, and made his side burns bigger.

I feel embarrassed for the other street artists. These people have put so much effort, love and passion into their pieces of art. They went through the Raamen Noodle every night ordeal. But Thierry, he shoved himself in, in an almost rude manor, and completely tore what they knew and loved apart.

He had no respect or gratitude towards the ones who had helped him get to where he was.

So my 'now I get it!' moment isn't really about getting 'it'. It's about realizing what fame can actually do to someone. In some ways, Thierry thinks that he is an inspiration, and he's completely original, and that he can change the world with his art.

I'm calling bull.

Blogging Around: Connections in Confusion

My first comment was on Sophia Almeroth's blog. I really thought that she had some great, thought provoking questions within her post. I really liked how it made me think about postmodernism. I love The Devil Wears Prada, but now I look at it in a different light.

Sophia, I completely agree. The fact that the scene was taken out of the context of the movie made it a lot more powerful and impressive. I think it's amazing how everything is sort of interconnected, and really isn't our decision. Many people think that they have free will, but what this scene is saying is that we don't really get to choose. We don't have free will. We are influenced about everything. Your last question really intrigues me too: Who/What influences us the most?

The next commented I posted was on Nigel Howard's blog. He did a connection post on Tenacity and College. When I first started to read it, I was confused at the connection, and if there really was one. But as I kept going, he writes of finding his own strength through the battle towards victory. I found myself thinking about my college application experience, and how our's were very similar.

Nigel, first of all, you have a way with words that makes me want to keep reading. You write almost melodically, and I really love that, but that's beside the point. This post has a very crazy and deep connection to myself. I myself am not the smartest girl out there. I mess up all the time, and let's be real, my attention span varies on the day. But, my mother has trained me to be better than what I do normally. College is such a beautiful freedom, it's a learning period and it can really change where you want to go in life. Thinking back to when I was a kid, I really thought that it would never come, but it has and it still seems as dream-like as it was when I was younger. It's crazy to think that we, next year, will be off and on our own. I've learned to push myself more than I already do, and how to put it forth to something that I love to do. I'm going to college to study comedy... For me, that is a dream come true. Tenacity and grit is something that I've learned, and thankfully, really hard to unlearn.

Change of Mind: Postmodernism

In the beginning of this unit, I could really only understand one thing: Postmodernism.

But using the term 'understand' is giving myself a ton of leeway. Postmodernists in my mind seemed like they were just a bunch of paranoid assholes who had nothing better to do but bring the Modernists down. It felt as if there were to be argument, their only defense would be The System.

I just didn't like the fact that they were the opposite of the Modernists, and that they had radically different ideas, but as we watched examples of what they actually meant, I think I have found a completely different view.

In the film Syriana, Tim Blake Nelson is confronted about corruption in the oil company. He then goes on to explain that corruption is everywhere and everything. The reason that we have rules against corruption is so we can actually BE CORRUPT. 

We change things and bend them and makes things so we can break them. We are influenced by everything, and we can't escape it, and that's exactly what Postmodernists are saying! They just want others to accept it.

Even though I feel as if they can come of apathetic, or kind of 'all knowing', I still really like what they have to say about certain topics. I think that they really have great points.

Connections: Martin Luther King Jr. and Portlandia

Before this lesson all I really knew about 'breaking the status quo' was wrapped up into a song from High School Musical. It seemed as if it was all about being yourself and shining through the stereotypes.

But as we've discussed the topics futher in this class, I've realized that it's not just about being yourself; it's about breaking the "norm" for a better, more effective out come that in the end makes people feel more empowered and generally more happy.

As we all know, MLK was the atomic bomb of breaking down the walls of the status quo. He pushed things to the limit and then some. He IS the most important person in the war against segregation and has impacted the lives of every single person on this earth.

But as we continued to talk, I realized that breaking the status quo didn't have to be something as monumental as equal rights; it just has to be different.

That's why I think that the show Portlandia is a perfect example of this. Portlandia, which was created by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein is changing the way people view sketch comedy.

When you hear the term 'sketch comedy' your mind immediately wanders to the Dick Van Dyke show or SNL, but Portlandia has taken everything that those shows have, and twists it into a weird, interesting, unique new outcome. This show has little quirks that make it what it is. They take current things, and completely distort and change it into something that is bizzare and hilarious in a way that you never thought existed.

When I think something is funny on television, I usually enternalize it. But when I'm watching Portlandia, there is always a guaranteed burst of laughter from me. I LOVE this show. It has shown me a new side to creativity, but also a new side to breaking the status quo.

Seasons 1 & 2 are on Netflix. Watch them.