Catfish Review

I read a list of the top fifty must see films of last year and wrote down the ones that I wanted to personally read. “Catfish” was one of those films I distinctly remember jotting down. Being a radio/tv/film major I have a devoted interest to films and love to analyze and review various aspects of the film. “Catfish” had a lot to offer.

One of the major themes of this movie is the topic of gullibility of the current generations. Many young adults and kids will currently believe anything they see on the internet. People do not question the facts posted on the web and will use the located facts to retain misquoted information. The movie shows us how people can be imaginary online even though they seem real, but I know of a website that was created for the sole fact to prove modern internet users’ gullibility. The following is a link to the website that promoted the conservation and awareness of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. The website has sightings, frequently asked questions, and information about this curious creature. The point of the website is for teachers to ask their class to gather information about this incredible animal and then tell their students write a small paper about it. Once they begin research some may question the site, but the majority will accept the facts they have just reviewed. This site also related to Web 2.0 because many students will do all of their research online instead of looking information up in books. More and more students make less treks to the local library and many do not know how to locate a book in one either. The world is becoming dependent on online information. An alternative title for “Catfish” could be “Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus”.

Another way “Catfish” relates to web 2.0 is due to the fact that the film demonstrates how devoted people can be through a social media site. Nev starts a textually active relationship with a girl he has never met and has a conversations and significant interactions with the entire family. If this family really existed and all of the family members were real, it would still be an interesting movie. Nev might have slept with the daughter and started an art business with Abby. Those theoretical things could have easily happen and it is because people these days will invest in online relationships and business plans. Gone are the days where face to face meetings ensured a partnership, that form of communication is no longer necessary in modern society.

I have already recommended this film to multiple friends and housemates and am glad that I finally got the chance to review the film. I can check it off of my “must see movie list” and can move it to my “must recommend movie list”.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Do you feel that "Mister Brain Wash" is a legitimate artist who is creating meaningful art?

Anyone can be an artist, but everyone has been one. Through the observation of the last two decades of my life, it is noted that my schooling experience is sprinkled with art classes and time consuming projects. Many of these projects had creative input and did not look half bad, yet most of them eventually found their way to the dumpster. My name is Nicholas Homler and I am an artist. Millions of people that I have not even met have also painted pictures, illustrated fruit bowls, and sculpted clay pots – every single one of us is an artist. I feel like Mister Brain Wash is just another one of those million people. He can be defined as an artist, but “legitimate artist” is a label that should not be associated with him.

To be a legitimate artist, I believe one must follow a certain set of guidelines. First of all, an artist is a man or woman who creates his own work with his own hands. They have developed the skills necessary to sculpt a statue, paint a landscape, draw a human face, etc. Mister Brain Wash does not even create his own art; he hires other artist with imaginative skill to carry out his concepts. Anyone can come up with ideas; it takes an artist to translate them into a medium. If Mister Brain Wash was a true artist, all of his work, if not some of it, could evolve and develop under his own hand. Second of all, artists spend years developing and discovering the personality of their art work. Traditionally artists find their style and work their masterpieces around that particular style. They become proud of their originality, developed texture, brush strokes, and color. Mister Brain Wash is all over the place with his art and has no set of guidelines that holds significant thought. He is a mess.

The largest issue I have with Mister Brain Wash is that he is a total fake yet people do not realize it. The largest hint I can feed off of it his name, “Mister Brain Wash”. As the title suggest, he is brainwashing people to believe that he is an artist and that his work has significant value. As we saw in the video, people believe that this man is a true inspiration and a new age artist. The line for his gallery included thousands of people and “Life is Beautiful” remained opened for weeks after opening. Were these people informed that the concept was his, but the art work was not? He is getting a lot of credit for having minimal skill. Also, in the video we saw that when Mister Brain Wash sells his work he makes up figures by random assessment. A true artist would have values preset based off of supply and demand and set price tag on each individual piece.

The only thing that I cannot argue against is if his “art” is meaningful. Art has different meanings to different people. Perceptions are unique to individual character and experience. However, I do not know how much meaning Mister Brain Wash actually put into his art. Based off the video, I want to say that the first thing that popped into his head was what he told the artist to render, or maybe he came up with a fresh concept and later developed meaning. It is tough to tell, but I have seen other artist do a much better job in explaining the concept behind their work.

If the world sees Mister Brainwash as an artist, then the expectations of recognized artwork have declined. If Mister Brainwash could stare at blank canvas with a paint brush in hand and paint his own concepts from skill, then I see little argument to withhold his artistic title. But for now, he is an insignificant artist in my book and should not be defined as a “legitimate artist” by any means.

Rastorizing Vectors and Vectorizing Rasters

Illustrator Studio Art

Vector Art Model

Comments

I responded to the posts of kolby, robert, and becky.

Posting 2.0: Facebook Cookie-Cutters

Question: As we join groups and social networks from affinity sites to Facebook, are we extending and expanding identities, or increasingly conforming to the cookie-cutter profiles demanded of these interfaces? Is the loss of "personal space" and "reflection" so many users complain of merely the necessary surrender of "ego" as we learn to participate as members of a more evolved "collective organism" of "hyper-people?

Response: Before the days of Facebook, “friends” were the people you hung out with on a Saturday night, “profiles” were not available on request, and a “wall” was only coated with paint. Although, one can still find “pictures” on both a Facebook wall as well as a wall in their living room wall, Facebook has changed our perspective of the people we know and the world we live in. People argue whether we are expanding our identities or conforming to cookie-cutter profiles in this new online community; I believe that we are limiting our identities and personalities behind the comfort of our computer monitors.

Society tells us how to think, act, and look – it provides everyone with the social norm. However, with the popularity of the internet, the social norm is not restricted to our physical being, but our virtual being, too. We can analyze Facebook piece by piece by starting with profile pictures. Profile picture selection is an important deal for a lot of people. Facebook users can spend days debating what picture they want to post in order to show the personality they want to label themselves with. Many people would state that a profile picture would expand ones individual personality because the user has full control and judgment of what they choose to post. Yet, many Facebook users will not post a pure personality picture because they want to maintain a professional image for perspective jobs, co-workers, and bosses. Instead of them laughing in Saturday Night wear having a good time, a college guy may post a picture of him making a speech over a podium or marching in his graduation uniform. People want to maintain their virtual professionalism and this is becoming a cookie-cutting factor that people are following. There is a legitimate paranoia of people losing their job opportunities because of how their present themselves online. There is a restriction as to how much personality can be advertised in a profile picture.

Another example of how people cookie-cut themselves online is through netiquette. On Facebook, it is not seen as the social norm to openly express your opinion of politics or defend your thoughts either. Political, sport, and personal arguments are seen a rude gesture to the rest of the Facebook community. People usually tend to restrain themselves from arguing against a friend’s status in which they may personally disagree with. There is a fear that messages may come across differently then intended and enemies can be made through miscommunication. In the real world, one can have a friendly argument with their friends, without the rest of the internet witnessing the pros and cons or back story of the subject. In other words, our personality is less restricted in physical conversation. Our personalities would not come out as effectively if we held arguments over Facebook walls.

We are all part of a “collective organism” when it comes to Facebook personality because we all tend to follow the online social-norm and the unwritten rules of the social network. Our freedom of speech, physical behavior, and overall personality messages are a lot more effective when displayed face-to-face. The internet hinders who we really are.