NMA 2050: Nansi Matua

I agree with Russolo when he says “But our ears far from being satisfied, keep asking for bigger acoustic sensations. However musical sound is too restricted in the variety and quality of its tones…We must break at all cost from this restrictive circle of pure sounds and conquer the infinite variety of noise-sounds.” As music has developed over the years, there has been an increasingly large number of songs with similar chord progressions which sometimes makes them hard to distinguish from one another. The only way to be innovative in music is to explore the unknown and try to incorporate sounds that have never been used before. “This revolution of music is paralleled by the increasing proliferation of machinery sharing in human labor.” Technology is ever evolving and can allows us to produce music that would have been beyond earlier artists imagination. Using noises is a way to expand the ways in which artists express themselves and how listeners relate to music.

Many people have often steered away from musicians in the “noise” genre because they find it unpleasant and abrasive. While I have been guilty of writing off particular artists because of this reason, I do respect the innovative nature of incorporating noise. I chose to listen to the EP “ Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do” by Sigur Rós because I am familiar with a couple of their songs and always found their music unique and entrancing.  When I started listening to the music I was reminded of the line from Russolo’s The Art of Noises :  “To convince you of the surprising variety of noises, I will mention thunder, wind, cascades, rivers, streams, leaves, a horse trotting away…” Many of the noises through this EP are the sounds of nature which made it enjoyable and unpredictable. I really enjoyed this EP and will explore Sigur Rós’ back catalog in order to find out what other kind of noises they incorporate into their music.

http://www.ubu.com/sound/sigur.html

This manifesto paints hackers as a community of people whose ultimate goal is to lobby for the free flow of information as a vessel for creation.The author describes hackers as those who use information to create new worlds. I agree with the description of a hacker as someone whose creation contributes to the knowledge and well-being of the public. The idea that the hackers do not own the worlds that they create is a way to think of hacking as a service. It allows for hackers to be seen in a positive light as opposed to the usual negative connotation that the word “hacker” holds. I agree with the author when he says that hackers must have new information available to them in order to create new information.I found the section on education to be an interesting standpoint. The idea of information being available to all is something I agree will lead to an overall more informed and proactive society. I like the idea that hacker knowledge, in its practice, is a “ gift of the result to a network of peers.” The hackers view themselves as a community who believe knowledge should be shared. Education has become increasingly limited to those with the means to access it and it does not necessarily guarantee the consumer will acquire knowledge.

“The immaterial nature of information means that the possession by one of information need not deprive another of it.”

This quote allows me to understand the point of view of the author in the debate of what information should be considered and protected as intellectual property. This debate is complex and many people have various opinions but the authors take on information is radical but can be persuasive. Although, it can be argued that the “immateriality” of information is not a valid reason for it to be freely flowing without any restrictions, some might agree with that take on it. Overall, the author does not see hacking as an issue of legality or theft but as a form of expression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtQaHfnFHjI&feature=youtu.be

“The animated film enables the filmmaker to be more expressive and thus more subversive than is readily acknowledged. Almost consciously,animators in being aware that they, and their works, are marginalized and/or consigned to innocent, inappropriate or accidental audience, use this apparently unguarded space to create films with surface pleasures and hidden depths.”

When I read this quote I immediately thought of multiple animated series that I recently started watching. A lot of the comedy series’ I had been watching did not match up to the level of subversion that animated series were bringing to the table. Bob’s Burgers is a show that I enjoy watching that often has hilariously entertaining scripts and tackles social issues in a way that is unthreatening and eye opening. An episode that has stuck with me is “An Incident Thanksgiving Proposal.” In this episode the main character, Bob, a cook who owns a burger restaurant, goes to the supermarket to buy a Turkey for Thanksgiving and strikes up conversation with the butcher. After a series of mishaps, Bob is forced to return to the Butcher multiple times for multiple turkey’s.  The butcher misinterprets this and assumes that Bob was trying to hit on him and used the turkeys as a way to return to the shop.

Instead of getting defensive about the accusation that Bob was flirting with the butcher, Bob was worried about the butcher thinking he was incapable of cooking a turkey properly. This show constantly takes unexpected turns in order to indirectly expose issues that people are faced with in reality. Bob’s concern with being seen as an inadequate chef, allowed him to totally dismiss the butchers inference. This scene is a different way to look at the issue of defense mechanisms used by straight males to avoid being perceived as feminine or flamboyant. Instead of taking the obvious route and having Bob feel threatened by the implication that he is attracted to the butcher, Bob feels comfortable enough to disregard it. This is an example of a way that Bob’s Burgers maintains it’s “surface pleasures” all while incorporating “hidden depths.”