Rhythmic Cinema Quotes
"As the amount of information out there explodes exponentially and threatens to become almost the only way people relate to one another, it's a question that seems to beg a response: What would happen if it just vanished and the lights went out?" p.80
Miller is talking about the way people are consuming, producing, and using information in the digital age here. He sees that there is a trend towards people relying on information to relate to others rather than... just relating to who that person is... I think.
"Whenever you look at an image or listen to a sound, there's a ruthless logic of selection that you have to go through to simply to create a sense of order" p.81
Other than it being a tough read, this quote pulled me in because I find the idea interesting. What are the steps we take in creating a sense of order when we see an image or hear a sound? are the two different? How does it differentiate from person to person? I cant quite figure out if Miller answers this question but it is a nifty idea...
Rhythmic Space
"Speaking in code, we live in a world so utterly infused with digitality that it makes even the slightest action ripple across the ... web" p.89
Our actions today do have much more repercussions than ever before, as pointed out by Miller. Responsibility is the name of the game here, and Miller is pointing out that this can be both a good and bad thing.
Errata Erattum
"Who is who in the theater of sounds where any sound can be you?" p.93
I mostly just found this awesome because it sounds like something Morpheus would say in the Matrix. I think he is talking about the endless creativity that can be unlocked in the age of mixing and sampling. If not, still cool.
The Future is Here
"...it's almost as if the main issues of the day are all about how people are adjusting to the peculiarity of being in a simultaneous yet unevenly distributed world." p.105
This is easily my favorite line in the book. It is a great way of describing the way people feel, almost off balance today, as if all these different forms of media are warping our sense of place and time subliminally. Really cool quote.
The Prostitute
"You have a culture founded on unceasing change and transformation - so much so that things change too quickly that there's no there there..." p.112
Miller is trying to tie philosophy and technology together here (like the rest of the book i guess). He is saying that because things are changing so fast, our goals often move, morph, transform from our original intent to something new, the "there" is no longer "there"
As for a song connection, Id thought it would be cool to use a song that strongly uses sampling in the entire track. I chose to use Moby's "Flower" from 2000. This song heavily mixes an old southern chant that loops and is mixed throughout the entire song, giving it a structure almost like a skeleton that moby can work around.
Here is the track...
http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/10110/Moby-Flower_Mattie%20Garder,%20Mary%20Gardner%20and%20Jesse%20Lee%20Pratcher-Green%20Sally,%20Up/
As for connecting it to Miller... This song doesnt seem to have any covers of itself nor any remixes (at least any that have been posted) but it does show that two other songs have remixed this southern .. diddy? I dont know how to explain the track by the Gardners and Pratcher. I guess the best connection is Miller's idea on originality and how much that idea is tied to opinion. This song by moby isnt original, but you can make the argument that the song it is covering and mixing isnt original either.
Great analysis of the reading. I feel like you got a stronger grasp of the things he was trying to say.
ReplyDeleteI also really like the topic of "Originality" you touch on at the end. What is originality? In our history very few artists are actually original, most play it safe (by most standards) and stick to what they know works. For example, although no one else has ever made your particular piece doesn't mean someone before you hasn't explored the topics your talking about, the mediums you used, or the techniques utilized to create the work.
Nice post overall. I wish you made a few more connections between the song and the reading, but you took a decent stab at it.
ReplyDeleteNice job on deciphering what Miller was trying to say on some of his quotes. I found it hard to decode his work!
ReplyDeleteThis was a good post and I like the quotes you used. I think it is interesting that you found a song that doesn't have any covers or remixes. Caused me to wonder if there is types of songs that are unique in a musical sense, that if you changed just one note, the song would sound completely different.
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