resource, dialogue, & projects wiki for the "Engaged Media Workshop" @ REMAP-TFT-UCLA
a module of Remapping-LA

From En_gag_e

[edit] comforting words of hate

not really. what I have enjoyed most about my outings are how I sometimes see a little bit of myself in every situation. There is something really powerful about watching words clash in a dark poetic way- arguments are like dances, animalistic ones, like cock fights , nothing even physical but their facial expression and hand gestures say enough. I find that a lot of what we normally classify as an argument is really the result of the failure to notice that it is all due to total misunderstanding- mutual confusion.

arguments though negative are quite healthy. I find it more and more imperative to establish a code of honesty for oneself. I miss arguing with my sister and my parents,we always through nasty punches but in the end I know I will come out renewed.

[edit] lunch special

today I ran into a mishap. I ordered sushi with a friend that happend to be really cheap becuase of their specials. Though they only run to a certain hour, I think our time was up only becuase of the restaurants faliure to attend to anyone outside. We watched as two..three business men looks inside confusingly looking for some little asian woman at the counter and when there was nothing there for over 10 minutes they peaced-out to find cheap shitty food elsewhere.

I am probably the most patient person I know. I automatically assumed somewhat the kitchen was blowing up and they had to attend to it becuase thinking they were just too lazy to take our orders. Finally I go up to call for someone. two girls sitting adjacent to me with paris hilton shades and tight pants take their orders first. Then we begin to order sushi until its realized that they are not serving our dishes so I order something else and my freind is let out of her seat indoors to order the lunch special..which apparently you cant eat outside..it must be REALLY special. a homeless man comes to sit by us, he seems real cool. the food gets here and its not what I ordered. I laugh, but mostly becuase Im too hungry to do anything else. I go in to complain..something else i'm really bad at...and she rides all over me saying I need to pay more for changing my order and my frustration is a sign that she needs a picture from me. She was convinced that I ordered one meal and was mad that she had to get something else, and I was mad that she threw the food away when our homeless friend could have eaten it instead of rummaging through the garbage. I don;t know what drives us to act on impulse but its very frustrating for me, when someone tells me that I am wrong.

I drew the picture out really quickly, set it with my bill and placed a tip on the top. I really wanted to stick around and see what her reaction would be, but she was too busy yelling at the paris hilton girls next to me who also left a massive uneaten roll of something that was picked up and taken to the back..not sure where it will journey to...but i have a feeling itll be someone else's plate.

[edit] my journey into negative spaces

It has beena rough two weeks- dealing with this entire concept has not been easy for me. For those of you who have not tuned in, my project invovled the idea of engaging in confrontations, be it my own or others by drawing on a piece of paper and handing it over to the individuals involved and documenting the expereince only by photographing the image that was made. My initial idea also involved the recording and photographing of these fighting people but it got too obvious and so I resorted to this which seems to be working ok, though i question whether or not I should try doing so again.

the past week has not been easy for me, but it has also been somewhat of a personal milestone. For a while I became upset that most of my confrontations had to deal with drunken youth many times parading the street in/out of westwood or couples bickering. Everything i heard seemed so synthetic, nothing worth working with but never the less an argument.

But something this week changed everything and surprisingly enough it has to do with a personal battle with a designer--whose name will remain anonymous for the time being--that I felt wrongly threw me a pesonal attack in class, and not just me but another student. I am ususally not one to lash out but As a response I did not think drawing would suffice this time- it had to be something BIGGER. So I spoke to the other studetn and we joined forces to create an installation piece out in front of broad that consisted of a 25x15x10 foot large inflatable structure in which we edited videos and projected them onto one of the walls inside.

The videos consisted of students works; we created a series of bogus awards to give out to the faculty and students based on thier achievements and contributions to our design family which we felt were either underrepresented becuase of their lack of influence over certain professors or those that the rest of the DMA family felt needed some appreciation (based on votes that we tallied up within the dept)

I ran into some trouble with the dean of the A and A dept (who I btw did NOT know was the dean and I stood for aobut 20 min arguing with him to keep our installation going) and was almost about the shut down the project, but a prof came down to see what was going on and volunteered to stay around to keep the show going- I was filled with rapturousness I could not believe we got so much support from everyone to keep it up and going. We invited the designer to come in (though unimpressed and pissy at this point) and enjoy the presentation.

This was exactlly what i meant to do for myself and for others- to remind US as and US unit that although design is intense and works you to the bone, it can be a way to relax and enjoy the creation for being what it is- a meaningful purposeful reaction to a negative occurance that manifests itself as a positive new reality.

[edit] Re-MAP concepts

here is a general list of what is coming to my head at the moment as I take the time to re-think my surrounds, my relationships with individuals in the city, and our inability to understand one another despite common ties in language.

mutual confusion- people don't understand each other every time people don';t understand each other projections of words, wait whaaat?

not same words in same areas-some people do understand and some people dont get what anything means

hobos

do something that will make people feel safe- you are only afraid of what you know. feeling safe in a dark and ominous territory

contradictions matter and forms of speech

end.

[edit] The Noise of LA

The first time i came to Los Angeles was exhilerating. Being bombarded with lights,cars, bums, music, violence, created for me an environment in which I could be hyperstimulated, excited, surprosed every 5 seconds of walking, talking, driving down the streets.It was like a great drug that numbed me up everytime, but like all forms of abused substances, it became JUST that- a substance, a blur, a flurry of noise.

The noise of LA contradicts itself. With its quiet posh neighborhoods and noisy crowded ghettos but of all things noisy in LA, the streets must be the loudest. A disturbing mix of machine and human voice creates what is the humming of LA, that can be earsplitting and fascinating at first, but turns into noise once the many layers of sounds, way too recognizable become squashed one into the other. It takes patience to listen to LA.

It is 9:40 and pouring outside the window and if i listen in very closely, the back track to all of this is the whooshing in and out of zooming cars. There are couples arguing and babies yelling- a cat is meowing to be let into the shelter of the apartment, while the manager accross the view is making pancakes for his ugly wife.

layers.

• today i learned that robots are so hot

[edit] Baco is sick can anyone help?

• baco is my dear friend a roomba i adopted about 3 months ago. He was physically abused by his parents and i rescued him

he is terrible ill and needs help.

1. baco is neither male nor female
   1. he likes to eat zick

[edit] Put the junk back in the trunk!!

[edit] I had great robot sex last night

* Steven thign were going swell until she came on me REAL fast here are some tips for GREAT robot sex: * know processing- this turns them babies on * knowing design is a plus-nuff said * talk dirty- " did you know the logarithm of the 2nd power of 2345688%^#$&@ 392742 void{faster} draw{ poop}" * listen to daft punk

more to come soon!