Damage -> MP

comicbooks:

Thank you to everyone who loves comic books.
Growing up I was heckled and beaten up because I believed a man could fly.
My own teachers from elementary school up to college told me what I enjoyed was “childish fantasy” at best, “it’s not art, it’s shit” at worst. Even today I can kiss sex goodbye if I bring up Crisis, Mjolnir or the H-E-R-O dial (it happens).
I’ve never seen anything wrong with comic books, only positive. We all have our own reasons… to me it’s a different sense of amazement compared to motion pictures or traditional literature… elements that are highly influential on my life than just mere entertainment.
It’s mighty, spectacular, uncanny, astonishing, incredible… it’s fantastic.
Alex Ross described the symbols above based on what they meant to him.
That’s fucking cool.

Heartwarming
~Sam

Thank you to everyone who loves comic books.

Growing up I was heckled and beaten up because I believed a man could fly.

My own teachers from elementary school up to college told me what I enjoyed was “childish fantasy” at best, “it’s not art, it’s shit” at worst. Even today I can kiss sex goodbye if I bring up Crisis, Mjolnir or the H-E-R-O dial (it happens).

I’ve never seen anything wrong with comic books, only positive. We all have our own reasons… to me it’s a different sense of amazement compared to motion pictures or traditional literature… elements that are highly influential on my life than just mere entertainment.

It’s mighty, spectacular, uncanny, astonishing, incredible… it’s fantastic.

Alex Ross described the symbols above based on what they meant to him.

That’s fucking cool.

Heartwarming

~Sam

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November 25

one evening when the lake was a red sheet,

“I don’t know if you know how much your son
admires the stars, the stars are in his blood,
but when we gazed up through the glass there were
no stars at all, the stars had gone to earth;
I didn’t know till then the stars, in flakes
of snow, come down to fuck the earth, the lake.”

d.m. thomas, the white hotel, page 25

-eric

this made my fucking day!

i went to visit my friend jen at work today, and she made me this magical mocha latte with a special morbid topping.

if you live in boston/cambridge and you have never been to toscaninis (the store where they make such delicious things) i highly recommend it!

website here: http://www.tosci.com/

thanks jen! yay boston punks!

-eric

$second installation piece for magical realism virtual reality class ART PRETENSION BLAH BLAH BLAH: The Biomechanical/Cultural Rorschach-Séance “Our goal was to incarnate the intercultural fantasies and nightmares of our audiences, refracting fetishized constructs of identity through the spectacle of our […] bodies on display.” Guillermo Gomez-PenaInfluence/Inspiration: The most important performance of Gomez-Pena’s work, to me, is The Temple of Confessions. The artist here uses his body as a canvas on to which the audience projects their cultural fears and desires. He uses allegory as an important part of these performances (each set piece is suggestive of something else), and incorporates high-technology into the interactive text. Gomez-Pena, throughout his work, combines science-fiction/cyberpunk and aboriginal or native aesthetics to create a bizarrely cohesive alternative world history. I was inspired by the combination of the technological and the mystical, and wanted to use my own superstition and my own heritage in an interactive piece; instead of creating a “religious meta-fiction,” I created a superstitious meta-fiction.Concept Statement: This piece appropriates a paranormal investigative technique called the Ganzfeld Effect. This experiment allows the participants to (supposedly) hear/see ghosts/spirits through/in the static of the TV screen. In this case, the static acts also as a sort of Rorschach test: the participant projects their fears and desires onto the static. The piece is set up in the basement of Piano Row, a supposedly haunted building. The American flag in the background is a sort of evocative trigger object, that is to say, the fears and desires of the participants become related to our notions of American identity, simply because of the presence of the flag. The flag is defamed/spray-painted with the image of a bee. The bee, in many superstitions, represents a visitor from afar. If you are kind to the bee, it brings good luck. If you kill it, bad luck. The bee here can be seen as any kind of intruder/immigrant/other. The victim outline evokes the various victims of American colonization; or, the evidence of the deceased that the participants are trying to come into contact with. The piece has an autobiographical element to it as well. I do not know my own lineage, other than that I am American. This is not because I was adopted, but because I am too afraid to ask about my father’s ancestry; I don’t want to upset any of my family who are still very touchy about his death. My mother often spends copious amounts of money on psychics to get into contact with various dead relatives. The entire project of understanding my own cultural identity is a sort of ominous séance, it brings up ghosts I don’t particularly want to deal with. NOTE! sam and i came up with the idea of appropriating the ganzfeld effect a while ago, but it never came to fruition. i re-contextualized it with the flag, in order to make it more about a kind of “national character” or identity politic. SPECIAL THANKS! to diana filar for helping me set up the installation and making the stencil with me! -eric$

second installation piece for magical realism virtual reality class

ART PRETENSION BLAH BLAH BLAH:

The Biomechanical/Cultural Rorschach-Séance

“Our goal was to incarnate the intercultural fantasies and nightmares of our audiences, refracting fetishized constructs of identity through the spectacle of our […] bodies on display.” Guillermo Gomez-Pena

Influence/Inspiration: The most important performance of Gomez-Pena’s work, to me, is The Temple of Confessions. The artist here uses his body as a canvas on to which the audience projects their cultural fears and desires. He uses allegory as an important part of these performances (each set piece is suggestive of something else), and incorporates high-technology into the interactive text.
Gomez-Pena, throughout his work, combines science-fiction/cyberpunk and aboriginal or native aesthetics to create a bizarrely cohesive alternative world history. I was inspired by the combination of the technological and the mystical, and wanted to use my own superstition and my own heritage in an interactive piece; instead of creating a “religious meta-fiction,” I created a superstitious meta-fiction.

Concept Statement: This piece appropriates a paranormal investigative technique called the Ganzfeld Effect. This experiment allows the participants to (supposedly) hear/see ghosts/spirits through/in the static of the TV screen. In this case, the static acts also as a sort of Rorschach test: the participant projects their fears and desires onto the static. The piece is set up in the basement of Piano Row, a supposedly haunted building. The American flag in the background is a sort of evocative trigger object, that is to say, the fears and desires of the participants become related to our notions of American identity, simply because of the presence of the flag. The flag is defamed/spray-painted with the image of a bee. The bee, in many superstitions, represents a visitor from afar. If you are kind to the bee, it brings good luck. If you kill it, bad luck. The bee here can be seen as any kind of intruder/immigrant/other. The victim outline evokes the various victims of American colonization; or, the evidence of the deceased that the participants are trying to come into contact with.
The piece has an autobiographical element to it as well. I do not know my own lineage, other than that I am American. This is not because I was adopted, but because I am too afraid to ask about my father’s ancestry; I don’t want to upset any of my family who are still very touchy about his death. My mother often spends copious amounts of money on psychics to get into contact with various dead relatives. The entire project of understanding my own cultural identity is a sort of ominous séance, it brings up ghosts I don’t particularly want to deal with.

NOTE! sam and i came up with the idea of appropriating the ganzfeld effect a while ago, but it never came to fruition. i re-contextualized it with the flag, in order to make it more about a kind of “national character” or identity politic.

SPECIAL THANKS! to diana filar for helping me set up the installation and making the stencil with me!

-eric

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debacle:

thedailywhat:

JSalvador: “Super Emo Friends”

Limited edition prints: Individual characters / Complete set.

[more.via.]

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As I, Turn Up The Collar On My Favorite Winter Coat

The Song: Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson is the fourth consecutive hit off of “Bad”, Jackson’s seventh solo album. Written in conjunction with Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard (two songwriters who worked closely with Jackson over the years), this song is known for its choral backing vocals and influential lyrics. The lyrics speak of the need to bring change to the world but also the need to look at ourselves first; to fix what is wrong inside, to assess our own actions and needs before the actions and needs of others.

The Video, which can be viewed here, also gained some recognition. The video features footage of poverty and loss, as well as images of influential political figures such as Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King and JFK. This was a change from Jackson’s normal music videos, which usually feature himself, however in “Man in the Mirror” Jackson was only slightly shown at the end.

The Character/Stand:

Man in the Mirror is a Stand used by a man by the name of Illsuo and can be found in the fifth installment of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, entitled Golden Wind. Coincidentally, this is the Stand that Pannacotta Fugo (our previously investigated Stand) squares off against.

Man in the Mirror

Man in the Mirror’s main ability is literally dragging people into mirrors and bringing them into a “mirror world”, a realm where Man in the Mirror has complete control. He can designate whether a User’s Stand comes with the User to the “mirror world”, which makes him somewhat invincible (only stands can hurt stands). He can also not be seen by anyone he doesn’t touch and cannot be harmed when seen in a mirror (ex. if some attacked the mirror he was in, it would shatter and create more portals for him.) Aside from these benefits he gains from his ability, Man in the Mirror is a relatively weak stand in comparison and cannot hold its ground in a fight.

Connections:

This character in no way embodies any of the messages of the song. I mean he’s a villian for pete’s sake! He could care less about world peace or figuring out yourself! I am also sure that Michael Jackson wasn’t trying for a mystical angle with this one either. The one connection I would like to point out is that Man in the Mirror and Michael Jackson seem to have a very similar fashion sense (Glam Rock/Biker Chic); they love those Jackets!

Verdict:

I think for this one, its safe to assume that Hirohiko Araki lucked out with this one. If the name fits…make it into a bad guy!

(via lovegifs)

“ Sam also knows I’ve been wanting to get into graphic novels more. (I still have my Death Note books to get to). We discuss graphic novel-ness whenever we run into each other in the kitchen or around the office. And being a graphic novel aficionado Sam has been kind enough to suggest things here and there. I’ve told him about my newfound love for the Scott Pilgrim series and he is kind enough to bring up tidbits about the upcoming movie and then some.

From Liza P’s Noses in Books. She and I work together and I lent her my copy of “Goodbye Chunky Rice” because she wanted to read more graphic novels and thats all I read. She reciprocated this blog though and I’d thought I’d do the same. Enjoy more insight into reading!

~Sam

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comicbooks:

Venom from Amazing Spider-Man #299 by Todd McFarlane

Anti Venom

Its funny the changes that Venom has gone thru over the years.

OH COMIC BOOKS!

~Sam

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November 19

the romans were proto-surrealists; or, dali <3's ovid

“yet trust should follow tested truths. You see,

when time and heat dissolve and putrefy

a corpse, it turns to tiny forms of life.

Bury a prize bull, slain for sacrifice,

and from the rotting flesh — a well known fact —

Bees everywhere are born, flower loving bees,

which like their parent range the countryside,

work with a will and hope for work’s reward.

A charger in his grave will generate

Hornets. If you remove the bending claws of a beach-crab and sink the rest in sand,

A scorpion will crawl from the buried part,

Tail curved to strike. And grubs, as country folk

observe, whose white cocoons are wrapped in leaves,

Emerge as butterflies that grace a grave.”

ovid, metamorphoses, book xv, the doctrines of pythagoras

-eric

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November 18

this song has bored itself into my skull and is refusing to exit.

it might be the new “hot n cold”

-eric

GET IT OUT OF MY BRAIN

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“ Maybe it’s just me but I like wordy explanations and comprehensive chapters, even if it takes an entire volume to establish really interesting story, setting and characters.” ~Sam Kusek

My Review of Hero Tales at Manga Recon.

~Sam

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supply and demand

”[…] if they were to die, it would change our view of the moon forever. knowing that bodies are up there, silently circling every two hours, year after year after year. something is going wrong. yet there is so much that can’t go wrong.”

fischerspooner, supply and demand, entertainment 2009

-eric

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