Alex Goldsmith VR Project

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexgoldsmith/

I actually did happen to like doing this project. As hard as it was for me. Well I liked the concept of it more than actually doing it. I did my project on Torture Porn which is a term coined by the media and movie reviewers that basically refers to a type of horror film that places EXTREME emphasis on gore, sadism, torture, mutilation, etc. A couple of examples of this type of "genre" would be the Saw Series, Hostel, and the Devil's Rejects  My argument is for people who don't remember the good old days where telling a story was far more important that visuals (i.e. how many reproductive organs can be ground up or ripped off before you want to throw up). It is a topic that I firmly believe in. The hardest part for me personally was choosing pictures that would express my exact belief on this topic without just taking snapshots of really brutal horror movies or finding really f'ed up pictures on the internet. I just wasn't sure how to portray it. But I did like the way I edited some of the pictures. I tried to make my photo stream more of a parody of the concept of torture porn more than anything else. I tried to make the supposedly really gory pictures in the stream really cartoonish. If they look very amateur and silly that is why. I kind of wanted to have a "Kill Bill" sort of vibe to it. Ergo the usage of Photo shop, fake blood, and use of Italian sausages as intestines/brains. If I had to do it again I would try to get more pictures or maybe just more gore to make it all the more ridiculous. For me personally the project gave me a much more visual aspect to work with and I appreciate that I got to be the one actually making a piece of rhetoric instead of the other way around for a change. As far as what it provides viewers, I think that it gives people the chance to look at a piece of art not just as a piece of art, but to have the ability to look at something in a different frame...whether the topic be some thing ridiculously shocking or shockingly ridiculous. It all depends on how the viewer literally views their own angle and I think that is important.

Alex Assignment #5

The topic I plan to do my project on is the devolution of  horror movies. I was inspired to do this after watching "Carrie" and "Hostel" in the same day. Basically I'm going to be arguing how most of today's "horror" films seem preoccupied with making you want to vomit and show the most possible gore than old horror movies with this crazy thing called a PLOT and great acting. My photos will predominantly be in black and white because I want to keep with the old fashioned spooky vibe. I think that pathos will fit best. Captions may or may not be included depending on the quality of the photo. The obstacles I anticipate are creating as many pictures as required.

Alex Assignment #4

 The picture is of an advertisement that I saw during our field trip. It is an ad to basically run a marathon to fight homelessness. The photo would obviously include the usage of pathos as a rhetorical device. It's appealing to the audience and their emotions by assuming that they want to end homelessness. Also it could be used under the impression of materialistic needs and one's own satisfaction and possible even their own vanity because there is a prize for the winner. Depends on what perspective you're looking at it through. But it ties in with your emotions. It also could have an element of logos because statistically homelessness has a high percentage but not completely logos because even though it's a nice thought...you can't really stop something like homelessness by running. The message I believe is pretty self explanatory...fighting to end homelessness. The receiver is the general public and the audience would be more geared to people who like to run for causes. As for the societal elements for interpreting the message, it's using a worldwide topic to appeal to the audience. I actually did kind of enjoy the photos because it allowed me to get a more practical view of the thing we were going over in class. I've noticed I learn a lot better and also faster when things I learn are practical and can connect them to situations. Now when I look at random ads all these questions might be going in my head...what is the rhetorical device and context of this piece...etc.

Alex Assignment #3

                                                                     "Dean Sequence"


I chose this picture because to me it combines elements of black comedy and also the limits of human nature. The criteria I judged it with was to see if after reviewing it and studying the picture for a little while I got any immediate reaction or decisive emotion about it. I enjoy it when art has the ability to let you live in the moment or be more cognitive about it. It really depends on the person.  But the main function of the photo in my eyes is to hypothetically show what happens when what distinguishes our own supposed "humanity" and our basic animal instincts. It's removed and all we have are the basic mechanisms that enabled our caveman ancestors to survive. I think that function also serves as the theme as well. The idea of loss of mind and just how far we can succumb to our basic instincts if prompted to. I think it's really trying to make you think and analyze that concept without just giving you something "nice to look at". Finally I do think that it has a little bit of a dark humor element to it because of the thought of supposedly "civilized" people acting like animals. It's in a way making fun of human expectations of themselves and putting a twist on it.

Alex Assignment #2

The following is a poem from the creative mind of one Edgar Allan Poe. It entitled "A Dream Within A Dream".

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

This is my personal favorite from Edgar Allan Poe. I like it because of the dark mood and the concept of false reality that the narrator seems to experience. In a way his private perpetual torment. This results in feeling of being astray. Dreams are supposed to be an escape from consciousness but the narrator in a way has an escape from an escape. There is definitely pathos because it makes you think about the possibility that if you're dreams are not safe then what is? What exactly is the fine line between illusion and reality? You get a definite sense of false security, and that applies to the ethos because every experiences dreams. The overall message of hopelessness and the potential of it happening to everybody adds a much more grim tone to it. Dreams are the time when our own truths are escaped and anything from Cocoa Puffs to evil mutated hot dogs taking over the universe with hot batter can come to life. Our dreams are uniquely what we call our own and with that lies the fear of what happens when that is taken from us. Like the Chris Nolan film "Inception" without the suspenseful ending.

Alex at a Glance

My name is Alex William Goldsmith. I was born on July 22, 1993 in Evanston Hospital. I am just about completely obsessed with music (listening,playing,writing,performing) and have been since I was first enthralled by a guitar just a week after I turned thirteen. I remember hearing my first rock song when I was about four years old but it wasn't until I saw my dad playing his old acoustic that I knew immediately what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I can safely say I never even thought about anything else. Other interests I have are burning things, reading, playing with my niece, watching movies, juggling, video games, and hanging out with friends. I went to the Chicago Math and Science Academy from sixth grade all the way to the end of high school. It's a very small school with an average of fifty students in my graduating class. 

I have always felt that musicians grow the most by playing music with other people and feeding off of other people’s ideas.  Playing in your room by yourself for hours on end and playing along to your favorite records only goes so far.  Eventually you start to crave that feeling of playing in a live setting with other people.  That is the only thing that I regret about going to a small high school.  The diversity in music only stretches so far and there’s only a select few who are really musically inclined and seem to have that drive.  I always felt a certain level of isolation when it comes to that at my school.

When I first started playing my parents weren’t very enthusiastic.  Before I started to learn guitar I had many things that I grew bored with quickly such as martial arts, soccer, and hockey.  I was never as driven to achieve at something as much until I became inspired to start playing music.  There’s something about begging your parents to spring for that first guitar that really gets you going - even when they buy you an eighty dollar steel string when you want to sound like Metallica!

I would much rather try and push myself to do what makes me happy instead of stapling papers together at an office. Whether it’s my parents or the less musically inclined environment of my high school that became an obstacle in my path of wanting to be a better musician, I refuse to succumb to the negative attitudes of doing what makes them happy.  My passion overshadows my surroundings.  I know what I want to do with my life and nothing or no one will tell me otherwise. That is why I chose Columbia.