Ideas so far for project

So far I'm not really sure where I'm heading for my final project. I had a couple of ideas, but the better ones are out of my current technical reach.

One was as a reaction to my senses assignment, to have a visualization - like they have for music - but make it based off a heart beat. So it would be interactive art. You'd have to grab little handles (like they have on a StairMaster or treadmill) and get a heart rate, and the visualization would be based on that beat. If you wanted a different experience, then you'd have to jog around or meditate to get a different heart rate, and therefore a different reaction from the monitor. Could also use other things - like body mass, temperature, etc, so that no two experiences are alike.

The other was 'eyes in the back of my head' - inspired by a scene in what the bleep to we know, where the little girl at the wedding has all of those disposable cameras tied to her. I wanted to rig some sort of camera-helmet thing to take a picture behind me with a separate camera at the moment I would take one normally looking forward. Not so that it's panoramic or anything, just as a way of saying sometimes you miss what you can't see. Or perhaps sometimes something more interesting is behind you than in front of you. I thought of using those disposable cameras like they have at weddings, but I'm not sure how to rig them up. Or I thought doing it like they have on the movie - kind of like a spiderweb with cameras pointing in all different directions. Then maybe taking them and stitching them together for a collage.

Then my third more practical (aka boring) idea was to take pictures of things that are very un-aesthetic (like stains, road-kill and the like, stuff that's icky) and try to create something beautiful out of it. Don't know how, don't know what, but thought of that on my bike ride the other day when I saw a stain on a telephone poll that looked like a cartoon character. I could try to use those shapes as some sort of illustration - like cartoons, because I'm not very good at it, and perhaps it's time I try. Basically the idea is to either make something aesthetic out of something icky, or to create a shape from something that's not there - like cloud gazing.

More later.

Pointing

Random pics from outdoor class.

Senses 2

This is the left-overs from my senses assignment. I went to Nothing But Noodles and honed in on my hearing. My favorite thought was 'quiet chopsticks.'

Then I went to the grocery.










I had a hard time tasting anything as I was sooo full from dinner. I really wanted to taste the sour cream angel food cake.

Spidey Senses and My Big Blue Watch

Needing a reason to see Spiderman 3, I took the opportunity to complete one portion of the senses assignment. I thought I would take the assignment one step further and add another sense to my list - my heart. Since I started training for small triathlon, I have really paid attention to my heart rate. When I work out, it's the best indicator of how hard to push myself. I was curious to see what my heart rate would be during an activity like watching a movie. I have often heard movies called 'heart pounding' -- so this was my chance to really see how true that is.

As I left my house, my heart rate was at 92. A little high for not doing anything, but I thought perhaps in anticipation of getting out and seeing a movie.

As I arrived at the movie theatre, my rate was still up at 91. Walking into the parking lot, I began to think about what I was smelling. A hot afternoon, the smell of warm pavement was abundant. I looked at my Big Blue watch and saw my heart rate was now at 111. Still low compared to when I run, which usually averages about 150 -160. As I passed the slight bit of landscaping in the parking lot, I could smell the burnt scent of woodchips from the mulch roasting in the sun.

Approaching the door, the cigarette smoke from the nearby ash tray distracted me, and as I walked through the door, encountered my first New Media Eye-related injury. So here I am waiting in line, bleeding, trying to decide if I should see the 3:20 Spiderman, or hold out for the 3:50 Imax version. Being cheap and impatient won out, and I went for the matinee-priced Spidey. I got my ticket, asked for a band-aid, was denied and went on my way. My average heart rate clocked in at 90.

Of course, thinking about the smell at the movies immediately honed me into the popcorn. I knew it would smell better than it tasted, but I figured that's what this experience was about, so off to the concession stand I went. $8 later, I found my seat in the pretty empty theatre, and focused in on the smells again. I was hoping that my popcorn would smell good, but my popcorn had very little smell. It was difficult to smell much as I stuffed the popcorn into my face. I had noticed a kind of stale carpet smell as I walked in, but as long as I was stuffing popcorn in my mouth, I couldn't smell much.

Hoping that I would have some interesting results, I paid close attention to my heart rate throughout the movie. As it started, my heart rate was at about 80 bpm, about what I would expect. However when the Pirates premiere came on, I saw a little blip go up to 85! Woohoo Johnny Depp. Grrr....

I kept looking down at my watch through out the movie, hoping to see some big variances during different scenes. Alas, no. For the most part I hovered in the 70's, an occasional dip into the 60's, and didn't make it into the 80's at all. Average was 72. I figured I would be affected more by the movie, but like the movie, the results were only so-so. Hopefully one of the other senses will kick my heart rate around.

Egg Blog

I found myself needing to do chores this weekend, but alas, I didn't really do much. While avoiding chores, I thought a lot about what my egg and I should do. I tried to imagine how creative could I get. However, the harder I tried to be creative, the less happened.

In my guilt of not doing laundry, I decided to combine my non-laundry self with my egg. And this is the result. I called it 'responsibility vs. creativity round 1' as I know this is just the first attempt at my creative self trying to break out. Stay tuned.

First Post Ever

The irony of this blog is that I was a hold out on blogging spots. Wanted a reason not to have one. Alas, I now have no choice. Beyond my comfort zone. Here we go!