Photoshop Entry

This is my entry The Oasis at Worth 1000, please critique my work and let me know where you think needs more improvements.

Normally when someone thinks of water tubes the first thought that creeps into mind is a form of water transportation from one end to another. However, when I thought of water tubes, I had a different opinion. Yes it is a tube that transports water but what if the way we think about it is not how other people in other parts of the world thought of it, what if it is used differently, like a source of getting water for many other uses, example showering. The first thing I thought of along with these ideas was it being a form of waterfall at the same time providing water for people for many uses like doing laundry, bathing or even cooking.

I kind of took my idea and went even further with things. I thought of making it a form of water supply in the middle of the desert. Instead of the oasis as we have always learnt about in school; as a place that just has water and plants, and never dries up. I made it look more interesting by adding the pipe to supply water to the oasis. Now we can have better reasons to think of the oasis as what it was.

Creating my Photoshop piece. I used a lot of layers along with three pictures, just incase you don’t notice the lady sitting on the bank, bathing; she is actually an added image. I also used the opacity and the crop tool, they were really useful, I also used the transform key and other tools that I can’t really remember.

I think I did a pretty good job for someone that is not familiar with Photoshop; I hope this will be a starting point for me to get better in other Photoshop projects yet to come.

COMPUTER LIB/ DREAM MACHINES

I must put it out there that the article was pretty intense and a bit difficult to read, but as an overall view, it was quite interesting learning new things about the computer that I was not thought about.

Reading Ted Nelson's article, the concept I got from it was the introduction of computer knowledge and how its medium should be learnt and used by everyone. In order to appreciate this article, one must set himself or herself back into the times of 1973, to truly understand why Nelson states that the computers are really dream machines.

The subtitle "You can and must understand computers NOW". Emphasizes on the fact that everyday people as Nelson says, must know how to use computers because they give you a better understanding of the world today and how it operates. Almost anything if not everything, is operated by the computer and it would be very difficult for the person that doesn’t know how to use the computer to view the world the way we see it today. From experience I can agree that computer plays a big role in our lives today. I remember my first time when I was learning to use the computer and after how I was teaching my dad. It is quite embarrassing, to tell you the fact that my dad could not use the computer, but this was because in his old days computer was not popularly used and one did not need the computer technology to access information or as a means of going by in society.

The main focal point of Nelson’s article is how to make computers easily accessible to ordinary people so that they will not suffer as much as they did in the ancient times. Further in the article Ted Nelson talks about the programmers and how they tend to make things seem more complicated than they really are. He states that user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds. Which brings us back to the main idea of this article, his teachings and recognition of the computer world well before it actually started. However, computers have taken over our world, in the sense that absolutely no one can function without the help of the computer technology. Then again, this help with computers has its negative and positive sides, but I will not get into that now.

Even though Nelson saw the new generation as technology base, he points out the consequences of how people might not understand the technical aspects of it. He tries to inform and explain the process of learning about the computer decisions and how it relates to today’s world.

Cut-Up Version One

My Cut-up version of Angela’s songs reflects mainly the life story of Angela when she was going through difficult times. The first part of my song that sounds more like a song in a different language, I made slow because I wanted the listener to feel remorse or sadness. The pluck I indicated almost in the center of my song reveals the transition from a sad moment to an anger moment. The second part was all about the rebellious side of Angela both emotionally and physically. I tried to make the lyrics of the song not fade as much that is sounds like a different language, like the first part, but made it hearable so that the listener would try to figure out what the singer is putting across.
As a whole, I tried to make my cut-up version be a reflection of what Angela was going through at that point of her life without using lyrics to tell the tale, but to make the listener feel the emotions of the character.

With my second version, I would like to use natural effects such as voices, sea waves, footsteps etc. to enhance the texture of the song. I must say it was quiet difficult using only two songs, but now that I am exposed to the use of different forms of sounds and effects it will allow my version two to have more variety and meaning to it.

Play Second VERSION here!!

Responses

“The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin” by William S. Burrough, illustrates the belief that randomness and recombination of any type of medium is the best way to generate new ideas and create a different meaning from its originality. W. S. Burrough further expresses his thought and suggests that the cut-up method is an alternative in processing scientific data, military strategies, and filming, rewriting or even art.

According to the article, the cut-up method is the best way to produce great poetry, but i, have been taught differently. It has been said that looking over your work and rectifying your mistakes is how you get to the best. The cut-up method simply helps you channel your ideas with those that you had before to be able to deliver new result. Just like when you are writing a paper and a thought creeps in mind, what do you do? You cut and paste.

Being an art student, i can understand the cut-up method used as a form of collage, sculpture, or any other form of art. As Burrough says “cut-ups often come through as code messages with special meaning for the cutter.” this indicates art. An artist would always produce a piece of work and present it as something completely different from what you thought it was, meaning what ever the artist makes she or he has their own unique way of interpreting it. This however, doesn’t necessary mean that every work presented is done randomly, artist do take time to think and lay out how their work is or should be like.

In the article Burrough constantly compares the cut-up method with art and continues to stand strongly on his belief. I too consider the cut-up method, art.

If what Burrough says is true, that the best product is the one rearranged, then we are all better of without revision or organization. This I can relate to art because of the fact that he used different types of writing- also an art, a form of replacing images, and cut and paste them in different sections to give a new idea and meaning is art.