JenBen’s blog

Done and done

2008-05-09T23:46:53Z

http://webspace.newschool.edu/~millj737/

Et voila!

The Summer: CSS

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http://www.projectsarcade.com...

2008-05-09T03:19:44Z

http://www.projectsarcade.com/flashworks.html

I am also tempted to create a site similar to this.

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Near and Far

2008-05-09T03:16:17Z

$150,000 - Go to my mother's hometown in Lithuania and shoot a short documentary on where she grew up

$15 - Buy chalk and decorate the sidewalks to my heart's content

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Adieu

2008-05-09T03:12:46Z

So I wasn't sure how to react to almost getting kicked out of school. When Tom McDonald sent me, not one, but two receipt-attached mailings that told me I might be in violation of student conduct, I thought my grad school career was over. But I think it's only going to push me to take even more creative risks. I came into the class knowing what my friends thought about it - and I thought, hooray, I'm going to be a pro at Adobe suite! But I think my strongest skills lie in working with the most basic productions tools. I really believe I can make almost anything in Photoshop that will make me satisfied, and that means a lot coming from a perfectionist. My heart is still in digital design, particularly typography and color theory.

Although I haven't brought up a major project I've been working on all semester, I can discuss more in full here since I know the direction I would like to head in. I really liked the Chris Marker viewing and decided to do make my own film in a similar fashion, along the lines of a photo-based narrative. I started by taking a trip to the Reanimation Library in Gowanus, where I took photos of old science and natural history books. What I plan to do over the summer since I will have more time is to use these to tell Kafka's "A Hunger Artist;" basically adapting the short story - but setting it in the future. Here are some sample photos:

(Additional: voice-over narrative and Toru Takemitsu score???)

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res publica

2008-04-24T23:11:19Z

Web

So this is a preliminary sketch of what I would like my homepage to look like. To enter, one would have to press the Enter key at the bottom-left of the image - all other portals will be orange and at the bottom of the rectangle. The heading, Res Publica, will be at the top of every page. It's a very simple site, and I hope to use the moon image on every link, either as a lightened background or a small motif. The reason why the site is called Res Publica is because the nature of the internet is within the public domain, which the term signifies. I believe the moon image is also symbolic of such a 'space.'

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www

2008-04-13T16:58:37Z

Two websites:

http://www.slowlydownward.com/ILTMW.html

http://www.ghostbox.co.uk/

These sites are incredibly user friendly and it is their simplicity that draws my regular visits to them. Slowly downward is the site of one Stanley Donwood, who is better known for his album art for Radiohead; he is also a published writer and acclaimed painter. The link I posted is for his latest gallery show which is but part of a larger site - and I hope to build my personal website in a similar style to his, mainly because I find the typography and colors to be the focus, something I'm consistently interpreting; color theory and word design impact the way information is understood and furthermore appropriated. Ghostbox.co.uk is even more accessible - although it has flaws. The information might be presented in a straightforward form of a box (which alludes to ghost'box'), the font is a veritable text of tiny signals; while it may look like old-school computer technology - bearing its own artistic merit of sorts - it still hurts the eyes a little bit, especially if you're looking to buy the products and deciding which record to get takes some good quality time in front of the computer screen.

I suspect that even though I enjoy the interactivity of flash-heavy sites, I will have a better time creating a personal website that suits my goals: a highly functional outlet on the interweb. Obviously I won't use the exact templates of these two sites, rather I would like to consolidate their design, presenting what I choose to upload in a clear and expressive manner. I will borrow from Slowly Downward's rectangular presentation, while looking to Ghostbox's clean approach to line up my links, which will, most likely, have my resume, my weekly observations and a link to my thesis project and its process. In terms of artwork, everything will be conceived of found footage photography that I have worked on throughout the semester. This will serve as a decorative measure.

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End of the world or UFO?

2008-04-10T23:35:40Z

Kafka 5

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Noguchi

2008-04-04T23:44:40Z

Wabi-Sabi applied:

Noguchi

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Black/White

2008-03-31T00:03:08Z

I'm going to take the opportunity now to throw my movie into the vault and move on - gracefully and without regrets. Joseph and I had been working in the computer lab during Spring Break for our respective classes and struck gold when we decided to collaborate: The complex - Stuy Town - where we live has witnessed a string of new construction developments. The upswing is that the grounds will now be handicap friendly. The downside is that every morning I've been harassed by the sound of drilling. In an act of subversion and petty relief, Joseph and I decided to make a film concerning the numerous signs warning of the construction. We wanted something funny - to rejoice in the entertainment of Hollywood cinema. We didn't release, at the time, that we'd ultimately be spoofing the French New Wave, including the black and white conversion and the French subtitles. There is also a bit of Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes."

In the film's defense, the first half is an ode to the mundane. The banality is finally criticized in the subversion of the signs in the latter half of the piece. It's two-sided, open to interpretation, and that's what I like most about it. I had a blast making it.

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Svankmayer's Alice

2008-03-16T18:43:14Z

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