New Media? New to me.

The assigned readings were kind of hard to get into, for me, but nonetheless educating and interesting. I am continually blown away by what I don't know and the fact that I haven't been able to grasp the concept of the information age that we live in. The hardest thought is that I can't know everything.

Part of this struggle started in foundations last year when I suddenly found myself wake up and I wanted to re-read and re-watch and re-think and re-discuss everything I'd ever done in my 18 years of life. I told this to my teacher, Carl, after he'd given me a reading list for Christmas break. I asked him if he'd ever felt this way. Carl looked me so seriously. He said, "Everyday, and I hope it never stops."

I again ran into this brick wall of a concept when talking to my teacher, Cyan. I was, and am, so frustrated that I couldn't simultaneously know everything about the world and talk about it coherently. She told me I could sit on Google everyday for the rest of my life and still not know near as much as I'd hope to. So obvious, I know that. I hope that I'm allowed in my youth a little leeway, I just can't get past it easily.

So, New Media.

One of the most interesting thoughts in the reading was that America has been more behind in the new media art scene because it's out of breath pace. I can totally believe this, we have been moving so fast it has no time or real chance to trickle down into society and digest. Most of the rest was kind of wordy and overwhelming to think about, and decided to wait until we'd discussed a little in class before I'd go and waste some online paper. I love the fact that the web spawned most of this discussion and the readings, and the fact that we are posting out thoughts and responses exclusively on it. Yeah, the internet is pretty amazing.

As far as the titling and rules of this art genre go, it seems to be as slippery as post modernism.

Invention always becomes convention. Always. One fact that I have been able to except (with help from Cromwell).

This probably definitely is a naive proposition, but why does there need to be a title or genre? People are going to create, write, think, theorize, and do whether there is a category or not, right? Maybe, maybe not. But I've always been one for not placing so much weight on titles in art, not titles of individual works, but the types of art. I don't know. No cop-out intended, I promise.

It also may take another day to digest the documentary we watched, I found as it unfolded that I can genuinely appreciate all of these forms of technology and how truly amazing it is what we can do, even in the late 90's.

But it terrified me.

I think most all of those ideas for pushing the limitations of society and nature through new technologies are made possible by pushing morality and religion, almost completely pushing them aside.

This, I cannot do. Like I said, I am completely hats off to the people that develop cryogenics, drugs, virtual reality, robots, so many things! But I don't want to be much a part of it. There is too much reality, too much existing nature, so many raw things that I don't know about. Like I've been doing with my work on dirt. I want to go back and understand where I came from before I run ahead into a new place. So I'd like to be aware of the new stuff, but take part in the old stuff first, and I have a feeling it will take a lifetime to see and appreciate the old stuff, the raw stuff.

And I don't mind that.

Back from Brazil

I just got back from spring break in Lucas, Brazil yesterday morning and have not yet felt back to normal; nor will I for a few days I'm sure.

It was my first time leaving the country, so that in itself is a hard thing to digest for me. It was a week full of more education than vacation. I learned so much about the growing agriculture industry in the heart of Brazil and mind-blown by it's direct connection to Iowa. But one thing that was also startling were the thoughts I've been having about what it means to be an American. It seems no matter where we went, the US had so much of an influence and people who favored American things. In a way the pop culture and consumerism of our country is some sort of infection spreading. There are many Brazilian businesses and brands of goods in stores, but there are almost more American companies present. I was kind of disappointed to see a Nestle factory on the drive north from Cuiaba to Lucas, and how monstrous Coca Cola has become (it has purchases multiple kinds of Brazilian made raw sugar cane sodas and re-made them into high fructose and are now sold in their place).

I'm not sure what to think of all of this yet, but it was interesting to find out that a Brazilian beer company, Brahma, has just bought Budweiser. I'll have to look more into that, Brahma Chopp's is great beer.