Stewart Readings

Nov 27, 2007 at 7:41 AM
1 comment

"...like blood in a syringe, to infuse new life..."

Cultural Poesis/Ordinary Affects

I really liked this set of readings. It made me think of my research in Second Life. I noticed myself jotting down many notes...enjoying the style of writing as poetic. The idea of emergence...emergence coming from my research. A feeling that I try to capture sometimes in photos or texts yet they somehow lose something in the process. Or maybe it's because the feeling has vanished....Not sure. Maybe that's why machinima might work best for me. It can help keep the feeling around a little longer. The texts took me through a journey of the "ordinary" somehow bringing me back to the earth....I like how the texts created illustrations in my mind...it felt like mental excercises to break some of the confusion....or like when someone is working on something for too long and then they can't see anymore. When reading some of the texts it brought back memories of my ordinary. Especially in "Still Life." Words about painting, hitchcock, and old love letters stuffed in a box.

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"Conversations would gather around the event and spin off into other questions such as the overpopulation of deer, hunting regulations, and the new law that legalized riding without a helmet." 1032

I always struggle with questions spinning into other questions but it's not overwhelming it's just part of the process...another layer of the story.

I was thinking to myself it would be crazy to highlight everything...instead I thought of some ideas while reading. If I could show the piece of paper with my left-handed chicken scratch it would be funny.

Some of them...

take a closer look, details, thoughts, free-flow, moments, people like recipes (for life), "ordinary affects is an experiment, not a judgment." pressure points, forms of attention and attachment.

I really enjoyed the stuff regarding the body as a consumer/being consumed. "The body surges forward, gets on track, gets sidetracked, falls down, pulls itself up to crawl on hands and knees, flies through the air, hits a wall, regroups, or a beats a retreat. It knows itself as states of vitality, exhaustion, and renewal." 1036

It goes on to talk about Body for Life and the chat forums. That reminded me of conversations I have had in SL with one person I have met while starting my research. He always struggles with the idea of SL/RL and sometimes I feel like i'm counseling him or giving him dialogue about the matter. It's interesting for me too because it's questions that often come up for me when i'm researching...questions that I can bring up outside of the classroom.

"Wow these people build so many things...do they have a RL?" "Why doesn't that person want to talk abou RL?" "Why is RL such a bad thing?"

Perfect timing for these readings. Really inspiring. While reading I was imagining Henry Rollins...tough guy giving REAL TALK...

It's better in person....

http://www.angelfire.com/ut/inorbit/rollw.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Rollins