Contol It (Week 11)

Watching Waking Life is a disconcerting and exhilarating experience. It's relentless ontological pursuits are exciting in the way going beyond your comfort-level speed, down a hill, on a bike is. All this and it's just dialogue. It's hyper real quality, in both it's ambiguous portrayal of the character's journey (is he dead?) and the rotoscoped imagery, help undermine your sense of self-assurance in your own reality. It highlights certain issues of controlling powers be they, bio power or cultural forces, yet with the existentialist and the megaphone man offers a positive message that you should live your life aware the forces exist but not let them bring you down, live life like you have control.

Memento Mori (Week 10)

Susan Sontag said, and I'm not quoting her here, that mortality haunts a photograph, that they are a memento mori, that taking a photograph participates in our mortality and documents in the relentless march of time. Similarly though, in taking a photograph, you capture a moment, and subsequently time. So do you not capture that moment for eternity, or however long the photograph or negative of jpeg exists? The archivist of Photograph of the Day, he is dead, yet I felt that I was with him, at least in the capacity of a passive observer when I went through his photos. His body is gone, but he is not. His moments, his experiences, his ideas, the things he felt important are all contained in his archive. It is not an archive of a person's photographs but of a person. It is his story of life and death. It was a wise decision to refrain from adding contextual information, because it would have put a filter between the viewer and the man. The photographs do not passively represent the life either, they actively shaped his life as a daily event that had to happen come hell or high water, they were the structure to his life at some level, keel that kept him from drifting, something that he could look forward to each day.

Taylock (Week 9)

Archiving a childhood, good idea. What a way to learn about one's self and development also. I can remember playing a imagined game with my friend and his sister when I was probably about six or seven. I was some brave warrior going by my own name, my friend called himself Taylock, his name was really Taylor, and was the leader of a clan. His sister whose make believe name I can't recall, her name was Meredith, was his daughter and very passive. He was pleading with me, asking me not to kill his daughter, for what reason I wanted to kill her I don't know, because if I did, it would send her mother, who was already dead, into the seventh afterlife, and therefore spiritually irretrievable. Looking back, like the Jackson, we were exploring gender roles, or at least acting out what we learned at home: dominant men, passive women. Definitely more to glean from this example: issues of identity and perception of death, but I won't play that overly insightful intellectual authority the Jackson's love so much. Do archives garner a sense of authority, plainly because it is organized knowledge? Or do they have to be compiled by an authority? Or is the mere presence of an authoritative voice offering and introduction and synopsis do it?

UTAH BOUND (Week 8)

Peter Greenaway's Tulse Luper - 92 suitcase project is overwhelming. It is a universe. He has created a logic of knowing, where history and fiction are fused together and indistinguishable. It is counter intuitive to my own understanding of an archive, such as the Ryerson Archive, which is stale and dusty and operated by kind near-elderly women. With Tulse Luper it seems infinitely capable of growth and expansion, seeking to include more of whatever it can. Time in the Tulse Luper Archive is constant, all periods as accessible as the next, things that have happened are easily reachable or still happening and it is not yet finished, implying that there still need be things found to add, other than the suitcases themselves. It is such a creative, interactive, inclusive, didactic project. Each suit case contains and internal logic, a way of seeing the world. This is exemplified in the games themselves, as you enter the game in the suitcase, your supervisor suggests that "maybe you'll learn something." I think Greenaway wants his audience to see the different ways that each medium shapes, reminiscent of technological determinism, and alters ideas, by sharing the same or similar ideas over different mediums and seeing their variation. And, how brilliant is Tulse's adventure to UTAH to seek out the creative forces there, because of the Mormon's and their religious ideas. Drole.

Yellow and Bent (Week 7)

It was unfortunate that the "A Million Penguins" web page was unavailable, but oddly enough, reading its corresponding analytical paper was seemed like a story in itself. The way they categorized and described the behaviours of their more prolific contributors was as if they were describing characters in a story, a story about a people trying to write together. Pabruce the performer's attention seeking, often antagonistic behaviour, operating in the higher traffic pages, YellowBanana's obscure and poignant attacks of vandalism or serious contributions, and Sentinal68's pruning and nurturing edits, sowing the garden of the narrative, which was nonexistent. Because of a lack of organization and an poor grasp of wiki, which needs extensive and interwoven linking, the novel didn't pan out. But as the authors of the paper said, it was an assembly, a carnival, of contributors interacting and creating together, nothing in particular, writing at each other instead of with. I wish I could have participated, I'm not sure what role, if any I would have taken, the roles described in the paper all seem fun. I think I would have created different accounts for each function, with names reflecting their tactics. "The banana was yellow and bent."

Locative Steps (Week 6)

I enjoyed 21 Steps. It is not a locative narrative though. It does not make space into place. As the reader we are definitely in a particular space, high in the sky, a surveillance module for whoever is putting the main character through a test. But is not place. We are not immersed into the lived experience of a particular place, with its stories and kinks and dwellers. The deeper meaning of experiencing a locative narrative like Murmur, where the "reader" is told stories about a place by people who know it, while the "reader" is in it, is not achieved by following the movement of a line across a map. And, although 21 Steps is interactive, the interactivity does not bring you directly to the place as it does in Murmur.

I walked by a Murmur location the other it was at Church and Alexander. I would have called the number posted by my phone was dead, it was. I wonder how that place's meaning would have elaborated on what it already meant to me. I'll have to go back.

On His Own (Week 4)

He left with plenty of time to spare. He would have a coffee at the cafe across the street from the theater first. He'd worked them hard, late nights, vicious meticulousness, things had to be right, that's just the way they were. The horns sounded good in general, here and there they squeaked. He hailed a cab. "Take me to the Cotton Club." Rhythm's tight, but Max is hittin' the junk a lot these days, if he doesn't clean up I'm going to get rid of the fella.

Click:

http://tumblr.com/xl4yi8g94

SEE THIS (Week 5)

SEE THIS:



LEVEL 1

Look, hear, at this wonderful story:

If I buy this product, I will be happy. I will be strong. I will be handsome. I will be valiant. I will be a man.

And as that man I will most certainly find a desirable wife, whom will love me for those reasons. I will be King.

LEVEL 2
Look at this wonderful story:

If I smell a certain way, if I mask or mix my musk with this elixir, I will be accepted, I will be loved, I will be worthy of the touch of a gorgeous dame.

LEVEL 3

Look at thing wonderful story:

I am being coaxed in to believing that if I buy this product, that I don't REALLY NEED, I will fit into that unattainable archetype, one comprised of machismo and misogyny.

LEVEL 4

Look, wonderful story:

You smell. You, human, smell. That is not good, you must not smell. This man here, he smells better than you. You will never be him if you don't stop being smelly.

LEVEL 5

Look at story:

While you are distracted into focusing on this trivial dilemma of brand loyalty, and served a single ideal of beauty, that you will most likely never fulfill, 'cause you can't, you do not SEE that you are a consumer-slave, subject to a corporate mechanism. A worker, a cog, subhuman.

MEOP (Week 3)

The words that leave my lips-a-rhythm,

Fall on the down-BEAT of my breath,

Sounding out the SY-LA-BLE-SSSNAKE.


Reminding me of the ghost I'd met,

Marching drawing, falling, slowly amongst the traditions of his time,

The papyrus parchment rolled up, scrolled up, burnt up.


The fire that burnt that paper gave the heat that fed that baker who helped supply a writer with a dozen + 1,

Who left his assets to a kid with glasses,

Whose ancestors would build a computer,

They say.


Can we agree on that?

Where is the goddam meaning, Holden might say.

In my party-watch:


IFNID
N R
I A
TIMET W
Y, I O
O C T
HM.KS


What the hell does that mean?

Screw you Faulker!

I don't need a fuckin' truck to carry wood to burn the fire to feed the power.

Let's agree that start means finish, K?

THE START.

Chat Screen Cafe - (Week 2)

As I type this journal on my laptop, I know that the final product will be shaped by that very action. I know that I will not type this out whole, start to finish, I will check Facebook, just to check it, to ensure that my constructed identity, my calling card, is tip-top or to see if someone has communicated with me, "look a wall post."It's seems like the communication has become more of an ego-boosting, points-accumulating game, rather than an attempt at actual connection, "Hmmm with this CRAZY status update maybe I'll get 17 "Likes" and even more comments!" And after I check Facebook I will return to this writing with something else in mind. I have a friend doing a semester in Oslo, we Skype ever so often, I enjoy it. Like any conversation, it takes a while to warm up. We start by talking at each other, then comforts grows, then there is a period of intense engagement where you feel like you're actually in the room with the person, you have surpassed the mediation of the screen, you are outside the mind in asocially reactive and impulsive state. Then something from the real world interrupts the flow, and you are brought out of it. In a darker head space, doubt rampant, paranoia setting in, I look back at these conversations with a measured anxiety. I have not seen this person for, 2 months say, yet I feel like I was just with them, but then again, my only bearing on this person's existence is through their digital representation on a screen. How do I know that it's real? How do I know something out in cyberspace isn't creating this avatar for me to interact with? That last one is getting a bit too paranoid, it's hard to imitate a person's idiosyncrasies and to be able to recall those experiences had together alone. Anyway, I guess its hyper-real, it appears real and so why bother questioning whether not it is if it gets you off anyway. Long story short, Skype don't beat sitting across from one another at a cafe.

Bill's Cheap/Unique Secondhand/Vintage Boutique

Hooooey! Come on down yo Bill's Cheap/Unique Secondhand/Vintage Boutique: Where people come to look different! All Rights Reserved.

We got a sale goin' on, Heck! Who am I kiddin'? We always got a sale going on!

Come on by and buy garments that grandfather wore or that quirky neighbour who smelled like cabbage and was probably a pedophile.

Hey there young lady, what's your name?

June.

June what?

Li.

Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?

I go to school.

Where?

U of T.

Well now, ain't that a bowl of fried dandelions. What brought you here today?

I like being unique.

Shit! Ain't that appropriate.

Why would you want to look like someone else?

My thoughts exactly.

K, Bye.

Wait just one sec there, here take this questionnaire.

Oh looky here, a long haired gypsy freak. What's your name son?

Damian.

That's quite a last name you have there.

It's polish.

How 'bout that. So why are you treading these tiles?

I don't have the money to buy expensive clothes.

I hear ya.

And in a broader sense, when buying previously used clothing, there is a history to the clothing and a character.

Don't read into it to much now. And do me a favour, fill in one of these questionnaires.

Hmm let me see here, madame, what's your name?

Priya.

And what brings you here?

I like to shop vintage.

You came to the right place.

Yeah, they ARE cheap and unique and the clothing has been worn, giving them sentimental value.

Here, fill in this questionnaire

Results of Style Questionnaire:

June Li:

-floral prints
-bright colours: green, purple and blue
-silky material
-guy's clothing

Damian:

-colour, matching colour
-70's palette: olive green, cream, burnt orange, navy blue, maroon

Priya:

-floral patterns
-earth tones
-anything black
-airy clothing for spring and summer

Hmm... What?

My memory of The Red Light is skewed, because it is a bar and I was drinking. We were actually looking for the Communist's Daughter, round Dundas and Ossington, when we walked in one night not too far back but too far back to give a specific date. We made the mistake because it might not have had text on it's blackish possibly read awning, we didn't see any anyway. Maybe it was November. The place had me at hello is this the Communist's daughter.
I believe it had some square exposed wood cafe appropriate tables in the window and along the wall on the left side of the narrow front section of the place. On the right of this narrow front section stood a bar with no stools and a curved edge. It was wood too, varnished maybe, it was dark I don't know. It had a grove of tap-levers, most notably St. Ambroise Oatmeal stoat. I had a couple of those at least, among other things.
On the way to the back section stood a juke box that only had 90s hip-hop and 80's stadium rock, I think we plated a Coolio, orange permeated its plastic side panelling.






Back:

It was lit by two lamps with yellow lamp shades. One immediately to your left upon entering and the other in the far right corner where two couches met their backs against the wall. On the left side of the room were a couple of round wooden tables with wooden chairs, three at each. Couch one sat on the right side of the far wall right arm meeting meeting the couch two's left. In the void between the couches one and two rose the table that supported the lamp. Couch one is floral valour that embraces your behind allowing you to sink in when you sit down. Couch two belongs in a movie theatre, red valour the colour of valor. A table for drinks stands at attention in front of both couched doting on its patrons.

Facebook is a Six-year-old

flickr.com

If you've ever been around a six year old, you'll know that at times they'll make you laugh and at times you'll want to wring their neck, but above all you'll know not to tell them anything you don't want repeated to anyone who will listen.

Facebook turned six February 4, 2010, and by all accounts the social networking media is a typical six-year-old.

It seems to be liked well enough with a global membership of 350 million, 13 million in Canada.

It also seems that a large number of people would like to wring its proverbial neck. Concurrent with its recent birthday Facebook redesigned its interface, again. The last time such a change occurred, in October 2009, Facebook users created two groups grossing more than 3 million members in protest, the Guardian reported.

On a more harrowing note, recently the privacy commissioners of Canada and the European Union have lodged formal complaints against the site, regarding concerns about the site's December 2009 privacy settings review. The review was intended to improve the security of user's personal information, but has allegedly made the information more accessible.

“Philanthropy has always been a factor in journalism in the US,” says professor Jeffrey Dvorkin of Ryerson University, “the question for Canadians is whether there are enough people who are willing to contribute in this economic climate.”

Newspapers are reeling to cover the costs of running their presses as their main sources of revenue, advertisements and classifieds, make a mass exodus from print to online media, where the cost of purchasing space is a fraction of its print counterpart.

And so the search for a way of paying for journalism continues. Philanthropy is a viable option when coupled with public funding, says Dvorkin.

The system “would need a very aggressive development department that is as imbued with the best values of the enterprise as the journalists themselves,” says Dvorkin.

There is a final balance that need must be met for a publicly and philanthropically funded organization, one that keeps the government at arm’s length and the interests of the benefactor out of the news room.

Dvorkin offers the possibilities of a “public ombudsman to act as a guarantor of that journalistic independence and integrity,” for the institution or an ethics guide by which the public may judge it,” Dvorkin says. 


Governments stingy with raw data

Governments are suspicious of raw data requests, Jim Rankin of the Star, said Monday.

It is one thing to request a document from public departments and agencies by way of Canada's freedom of information (FOI) laws, but the uses of electronic data are ambiguous and potentially volatile, as far as governments are concerned, said Rankin.

Governments in Canada don't believe data should be disseminated or analyzed, Rankin continued, a practice common in the United States of America where statistics are analyzed to identify trends and to determine the success of social projects.

Obliged by the federal and provincial Access to information Act (ATI) bureaucrats acquiesce to FOI requests of raw data only to create difficulties for inquirers by supplying time-consuming hard-copies or PDF files rather than electronic files easily transferabel to data input programs, said Rankin.

To avoid the difficulties of FOI requests, seven-year waits, Rankin and his co-worker, Andy Bailey, have begun to "scrape" institutional websites for information. The sites allow single question queries into their databases, Rankin said. To speed-up the process, Bailey creates a "bot" to systematically siphon through the entire database in the span of a night, said Rankin.

Gone Phishing

The word fishing, which connotes a mellow activity involving lapping waves, fruitful conversation and fish entrails, has been usurped in popular vernacular by its malicious homophone, and internet pandemic, phishing.

Phishing is the act of surreptitiously acquiring sensitive personal information from consumers via email, pop-ups, in person or over-the-phone for the purpose of identity theft or other exploitative measures. Phishers may pose as a legitimate web-entity, such as a bank, asking for previously relayed information often with an urgent imperative. Examples of the information sought in phishing are credit card numbers, ID's and passwords, and social insurance numbers.

In 2008, the University of Toronto email system, UTORmail, was attacked. Two thousand users were sent an email by what appeared to be the university help desk, asking for their user ID and password. Some users did respond and comply with the request. The university's network services supervisor, Alex Nishri, suggested the information was being sold to those interested in gaining access to online library and reference materials.

On a broader scale, in 2006, PhoneBusters, the Royal Canadian Mounted Polices's anti-fraud hotline, recorded 7,778 complaints from Canadians, with a loss in assets of $16.3 million; a figure the police believe represents only five percent of incidents.

According to the Ontario government, to avoid being hooked by a phisher you must be suspicious of any emails or phonecalls asking for your personal information. Most businesses of repute will not ask in such an informal manner. If you believe you have been phished, make the appropriate arrangements to change account information, cancel creditcards or execute any other applicable defense measures.