communication

I'm currently trying to talk my dad through removing JAVA from his machines registery. Not the easiest task, as you can probably imagine.

While doing this, it led me to think about my word "communication" for my visual literacy class. Even when using the simplest terms I could think of I might as well have been speaking Chinese.

A similar event occurred when my brother (a joiner and carpenter) tried to intruct me in laying flooring, even though I understood every word he said I could not understand a thing he was trying to say.

Even when comminicating perfectly in English, we are completely obfuscating the issue!

Also: Chaos further

My further ideas regarding the Chaos theme

Use of Weapons

Using my knowledge from repeated re-readings of this book, I think I've worked out my favourite scenes to use. This will probably seem like gibberish to anyone who hasn't read it, so I'll put a brief piece of text from the novel up to explain a bit more (plus my own explanations)

Zakalwe being saved by the Culture
Zakalwe arriving on the GSV (Very big spaceship)
The battle of the Staberinde
The big twist ending

My first idea is of the scene where the story's protagonist Zakalwe is saved from freezing to death by an agent from a super advanced civilization known as the Culture. The Culture is a peaceful, utopian civilisation that directly opposes war and cruelty in all forms and from all other civilisations. It uses it's incredible powers and technology to interfere with lower civilisations, with the idea of preserving life. The Culture obviously produces poor warriors to help with this cause, so they hire mercenaries doomed to die in lower civilisations to use in their plans. The agent sent to recruit Zakalwe is a kind agent, even by culture standards, who believes she is saving a simple soldier betrayed by his own side. The computerised 'Minds' of the Culture, who make these plans and discover these mercenaries, know far more than her about him. Zakalwe is a tortured soul, a man who was never truly accepted within his family who has commited many horrific war crimes in the past and who will never let himself forget this (To him, forgetting would equal forgiveness) The agent, called Sma or Diziet, is not saving him from death - she is offering him the chance to continue killing and being tortured by his own memories. At the moment he was saved, Zakalwe was fully accepting of his death - even feeling that he deserved it.

My idea is mainly showing a representation of Sma (or Diziet) half as an angel of life, half as death herself - or maybe more like "She, life in death" from Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner - She drags behind her evidence of Zakalwe's crimes, which he will have to continue to carry for his long life. Behind her, the battleship he commanded to destroy his own home city (The Staberinde) silhouettes against her, an inescapable fact of his past. Sma is displayed nude to display her naivete regarding Zakalwe, who she becomes a close friend with throughout the novel (but not a lover)

And thats my first idea! More tomorrow probably!

Design

Now I'm starting on probably my favorite project so far: designing a character and scenario from text.

As soon as I saw this within the coursework document I started thinking of ideas. I am a huge fan of Iain M. Banks Culture novels and I am planning on creating something from them, or one of his other sci-fi works. My shortlist of books I'd like to create visuals for are:

Use of Weapons (Probably my favorite book of his)
Against a Dark Background (Fantastic visual ideas, like the logjam - a floating city made of scavanged ships)
The Algebraist (Again, visually inspiring - especially the gas giant that the book centres around)

I'm going to start sketching ideas to see what comes out best - and I'll post them onto this blog when I'm done :)

CHAOS!

For my Visual Literacy classes we have been given words to work with. So far I've heard three of the four that I'm to work with, but one has interested me greatly: chaos!

For me this word brings a flood of ideas, from the obvious simple opposite of order to the complete breakdown of rules - or ignoring rules.

The main visual idea I have taken comes from my own personal lack of direction in new places. I have gotten lost in Dundee. A lot. To me cities are confusing places, with some roads signposted, some not (for no reson that I can discern) and as I get later and later for my appointment/lecture/class my thoughts turn ever more chaotic! So I got an image similar to the opening images from Fritz Lang's Metropolis. I think I'll try to continue along this theme :)

Boris Bilinsky, City Art work for Metropolis c.1926-7
©ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2004

 And a rubbish sketch I threw together in 3dsmax :P

Boris Bilinsky worked primarily in collage to create the confusing jumble of buildings in the concept artwork for Metropolis, my thinking is to try and imitate with the buildings I have created.

Castle Crashers

Working on a project for uni that I'm really starting to enjoy.
Design your own castle crashers character! Cool huh?

Dunno what to call him - maybe pharoah 'nuff or something cheesy like that :)

From the window of a train

You sure see some stuff from the window of my morning train. Makes Scotland seem almost pretty...

Also makes me realise how much I need a decent camera. Phones are crap for anything serious.

And art is SERIOUS F***ING BUSINESS!