The Beat Generation

"The so-called Beat Generation was a whole bunch of people, of all different nationalities, who came to the conclusion that society sucked." - Amiri Baraka
From this conclusion spun a cultural phenomenom producing amazing literature, rejection of mainstream america and a whole lot of phsycadelics. At the heart of this new era was three primary men, Jack Kerouac William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Reacting to the post WWII life and inspired by surrealism the beats were known for spotinuity and non conformity. Jack Kerouac's On the Road tells of the beatnik travels and is filled drugs sex and profanity. William Burrough's Naked Lunch shares some of the same content in addition to autobiogrpahical events but it was assembled through a method coined "cut up". By piecing together his notes and automatic writing a classic was made. Now not only did they produce controversial content but produced it in a non conformist way. As the generation expanded it fostered the counter culture we know today as hippies.

Cutting the art history in half

Thanks to the creative mind of Man Ray art is no longer fields of flowers and portraits. Marcel Duchamp started his career as a traditional watercolor painter, in time his art transformed to more abstract works including cubeism. Man Ray and Art histories big break came in form of a urinale in 1917. An object seen and used everyday became art when taken out of its element and placed in an unconventional way. The process of decontextualization, adding elements together to change form of object, opened a new world of art. Also getting it's start during this time is dada, an anti art anti war movement lead by Tristan Tzara. Laying the groundwork for performance art, surrealism and abstract art the dada played a large part in the revolution of art.

GRID PRoJECT

History of video games

Never had it been so good to be a geek! I was baffled three weeks ago when I witnessed a grown man get a packman tattoo. He was obviously successful, sporting a v-neck affliction shirt and BMW keys in hand yet he was about to put cherrys bananas and the packman on his body for life. That is a serious dedication for a game that saw its peak almost 30 years ago. I had never realized how closely related the military and video game truely are. It makes perfect sense boys are usually the ones tinkering and blowing things up, key components to gaming. Two years ago I found an Atari T-shirt at the goodwill, a treasure not to be left behind. The first user friendly game consol took the country by storm. Before long competition thrived, Atari dropped off and Asia tuned in. Somewhat unfortunate that China capitolized on the thriving industry we created. At this point their culture revolves around it as men describe characters as "cute"

Revenge of the nerds!

its amazing to think the technology we take for granted everyday was only a glimmer in some nerds eye forty years ago. The first computers, for lack of better term, remind me of the first telephones. With someone maning the switchboard on one giant machine that has barely any purpose. Although the ENAC did have one important purpose, decode messages during WWII. By the time the first personal computer hit the market nerds were on top of their game. The Altier, named after the one and only star wars, revolutionized the market. Although the new device was far from user friendly it was a glimpse into the future of the world. Through specialized applications the computer slowly transformed from a strict businesss tool to a means of entertainment and communcation with the internet. Still baffeling me about this whole process is the actual way the information is decoded and then transfered. I understand that a bit is 1 or 0 and 8 bits equals a byte but i just cant grasp how that can be trasformed into the music, games, art and communication we come to expect from the computer and internet. Im extremely thankful someone understood it as I depend on the computer more then my car or phone!

History of Radio

I found the timing of this class extremely ironic and somewhat reassuring. With our economy shaping up to model that of the 1930's learning about their method of coping was very suitable. Through the radio millions of americans were consolled through the dark days of the depression and then uplifted and infused with music in the years after. Just before this class I was contemplating how useful my degree will be in our declining economic state, im now somewhat relieved. As advertising flourished through radio in the 1930's the industrie will now flourish through the internet and social networking sites.

I love finding new interesting websites like otr.com! I poked around for a while and finally decided to give the hindenburg commentary a listen. I have always known what it was but i loved the brief history of the event its gives before listening to the podcast. What used to be an 8 minute clip has now been extended to thirty minutes of painful updates. In the extended version herb morrison interviews actual survivors that were straight from the wreckage. One man was even addressed as the "burning man." Other updates included crew members that survived through jumping out the windows. One podcast i was really sad not to find is war of the worlds. I have learned about that in three classes and have yet to hear the actually footage.