Harpeth Rising, The Foresters, and Almost Famous
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 04/14/2012 - 13:41I realize that what kids are interested in often changes from their pre-teen years to their interests in high school, college, or their first careers. I also don't want to be one of those parents with all kinds of expectations on my pre-teen. Yet recent events have caused me to think of Fiona's Radio Show in terms of the movie Almost Famous.
IMDB describes the story line as:
William Miller is a 15 year old kid, hired by Rolling Stone magazine to tour with, and write about Stillwater, an up and coming rock band.
Well, last night we took Wesley over to the Bethany Dog Park, where Fiona ran into some members of the band, The Foresters. Fiona got invited over to their house where she listened to the band practice, and toasted marshmallows. It was a wonderful mix of childhood fun of playing with dogs and roasting marshmallows, and the up and coming young writer hanging out with members of an up and coming band.
No, I don't think any of the kids were claiming to be 'golden gods', and instead of panic calls from the young journalist's mother, Kim was texting with the parents of the band members.
Fiona got home late last night, but was up in time to watch the World Premier of The Legend of Korra this morning, and then head off to the birthday party of a classmate. If we have enough energy, Fiona will switch back to her young entertainment journalist mode this evening to go hear Harpeth Rising this evening at The Buttonwood Tree.
So, I read through the quotes from Almost Famous, and try to find some words of wisdom, either from the young journalist's mother, or his mentor, to end off the blog post with, but in the end, what really matters is having fun, creating things, while trying to make the world a little bit better. So, I hope that Fiona is having fun at the birthday party and that we'll have fun this evening, soaking up some of the creative energy of a really great band.
Internet Avatar
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 04/12/2012 - 20:27Hardware, Software, Pixels, Sound. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when marketers from the Pixel Nation tried to take over the Internet.
My daughters love the show, Avatar the Last Air Bender, and are eagerly awaiting the The Legend of Korra. Through the fan site, my eldest and youngest daughters watched the first two episodes. Afterwards, I told Fiona that she needed to work on her pixel bending. Later, I talked more about it, and it occurred to me that following the four elements of Avatar, there were four elements of the internet and video games.
Hardware, Software, Pixels, Sound. A good internet experience, or video game experience, is likely to be based on most, if not all of these elements. As I thought more about it, it seemed that each of these have long histories.
The Hardware Benders, are the craftsmen and artisans of ages ago. They were the blacksmiths, shoeing horses, later, creating sculptures, moved over to gear heads, ham radio operators, and folks building computers in their garages.
Then, there are the Software Benders. These are the writers, the poets, the bards. They've gone from creating experiences with words in ancient languages to using new languages like Java or C++.
The pixel benders are the painters, from the caves of France to the post-impressionists, and on through photography, videography and animation.
And of course, the sound benders are the musicians from their didgeridoos to their digital synthesizers. The internet experience and the video game experience brings together all of this.
Perhaps this provides a useful way to help get youth to work on their pixel bending and sound bending.
Change and Stasis
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 04/10/2012 - 19:20Life is what happens while you're waiting for something else to occur, or so it seems these days. I drove to work in the usual way. I tried to keep my eyes open for the unexpected, or at least for moments of beauty that it is reasonable to expect these days. The flowers; spring's first gold, are still around, though the land is dry.
I've been watching YouTube videos of poets reading their poems at festivals across time and across our nation, it helps me to stop and look a little more closely. Yet my life is still dominated by waiting expectation. It seems like we should be in Advent and not Eastertide.
Projects at work proceed, with important events drawing near. At home, we wait for news about our impending move. How will the timing work out? I look at the grandfather's clock, as the weights sink closer to the floor. How many more times will I hoist those weights before it is time to move?
In the evenings, I distractedly visit various websites. I scan the news and social media in hope, and sometimes in fear, of the sign of times to come. And while I expect important changes imminently, and while others talk about the end of time, I don't expect the changes I will see to be cataclysmic.
No, the more things change, the more they stay the same. My mind wanders to absurdest plays and poetry reflecting on change and stasis.
If is happening around me. Hopefully, I can manage to see it and take it in.
A Resurrection Postscript on the Societies of Control
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 04/09/2012 - 19:05In one of the reviews of The Hunger Games, spoke reference The Panopticon, a building designed in the eighteenth century where all the prisoners were observed. Has the Internet become the new Panopticon? What does The Hunger Games tell us about this phenomenon of social media and reality television and always being observed?
As I've thought and read about this, I've stumbled in Foucault's Societies of Discipline and Deleuze's Societies of Control. They paint a bleak picture of The Panopticon, but I stopped to think about how others react to being always observed in social media. Instead of being a mechanism of a society of control, for many social media becomes a performance space. What is it causes these different reactions to social media? Are those who view social media as a performance space deluding themselves into thinking it isn't a society of control? Or, are those concerned about being observed, the ones that are limiting themselves?
One video that I watched talked about the whole idea of the panopticon as part of a disciplinary society as coming from theology about an ever watching god, ready to hand out judgement, the god of the law.
All of these thoughts rattled around in my mind as we entered Holy Week. Mixing these ideas together, does the Resurrection, moving us from a world of the law to a world of grace relate to how people perceive social media? Those who live by grace in social media view being observed as part of a performance space, where random acts of kindness, generosity and creativity can take place, not because we are afraid of being observed, but because as we are observed, we can spread the kindness, generosity and creativity wider?
Perhaps some of this also ties back to Maslow. Those for whom basic needs like food and shelter are challenges, may not be able to live by faith that the Lord will provide. They need to control things around them, to make sure they get their food and don't get cheated out of it. Others, stay stuck in this place, even if they have more money than they know what to do with.
Those who have been blessed with plentitude, or at least faith that their needs will be met, can step away from these societies of discipline or control to societies of grace, where kindness, generosity and creativity can flourish. They can embrace social media as a means to help kindness, generosity and creativity flourish.
Perhaps they can be a little closer to the image of god in which they are created, loving, creative beings.
And what if such grace filled lives became the norm? Perhaps that is utopian, and presents a strong contrast to the dystopian stories of The Hunger Games, or dystopian lives that people are around us find themselves trapped in.
To what extent is is possible to harness social media as a space for utopian kindness, generosity and creativity?
Dust and Memories
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 04/07/2012 - 10:46In less than a month, we will be moving from our current house, so we are busy packing and discarding items no longer needed. On the nightstand next to my side of the bed there is a small basket that I've emptied the daily contents of my pockets into, business cards, receipts, bulletins and other flotsam of the day. Mixing in with this is the accumulated dust of the years. This morning, I sorted through it to see what can be thrown out.
The dust aggregates my allergies and the papers bring back memories. Some are easy to discard, information that mattered in the moment but has little relevance today. Other mementos are more difficult. There are programs from memorial services of friends and relatives that have passed away. There are notes for business meetings that yielded no fruit. There are announcements about performances my children have been in.
What do I save, and what do I toss, both physically, and emotionally? Many of the day to day mementos serve no purpose and can easily be discarded. The notes from failed ventures are something I would willingly discard, but is there something of value in them, some lesson yet unlearned? Am I ready to learn the lesson now? Is part of the lesson simply throwing away old pain and moving on? Is there something else?
And how does this relate to the time of year? Good Friday, Passover, Easter? The vernal full moon. April is the cruelest month, especially when preparing to move. Memory and desire.
I take a moment to write. Perhaps a memory can be saved in text while the mementos head to the dump. Then, it will again be time to choose between other outward symbols to hold on to and to discard.
