Public/Private Interventions

Glossary – so many words, so little time (sigh)

mastermistress — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 02:34:32 +0000

… all references to the mind, thought and other related matters and theorists. Another brain model in itself!

TESTS – prints – stamps – letters/fonts

mastermistress — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 02:31:11 +0000

Made individual alphabet letters with balsa wood. Testing with different kitchen media to see how this would look as a way of presenting work. This was a strong coffee mixture. Critique to come.

Raving random notes to self at 3.30am – Wednesday 21st February … best to write it down before it is lost in the mind sea of dawn.

mastermistress — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:13:53 +0000

The blog gives a perceived form of power to the author, the chance to be the centre of ones own world, a self-imposed expert, self gratifying and edifying

The witness of personal pain and struggle, of triumph – puts author in a realm that allows the most humble to share spontaneous or planned private acts of creativity on a public scale/platform. From unknown corners of the earth – everyone with internet access is put on a level playing field.

Message in a bottle.

Blog – freedom of speech and beliefs within boundaries. Carefully worded and framed to be legal.

Therapy, talking/writing cure, healer, self-incriminator. Saviour, accuser.

I am alive. I am artist. I am poet. I am my own expert. See me type. I post, therefore I exist. (self-publish)

My mouth may never utter the words of my mind, but yet the whole world knows I am here.

Web is receptive, the sea, feminine, powerful, the communicator; The void, the unknown, the dark continent, multiplicity .. and metaphor of the mind and how it works. The universe, mother earth.

The post is the masculine form, penetrative, asserting itself.

Evidence to suggest that bloggers accounts of real events are believed over media reports of the same events.

Intertextuality – linking in with real events that anchor it to reality.

Philosophical – to witness ‘I’ in a virtual third space. It is me, and yet it is not, it could be someone else, it blends with other, yet it is ‘I’. A space that doesn’t truly exist in the flesh.

Can be recalled upon like memory, the moment of post can be forgotten in the flesh but still exists in cyberspace, later recalled. Yet unlike a memory in ones mind, it can be accessed by the public.

The third space. Quiet moments in the far corners of the mind. Moments between human interaction of contemplation and planning. Fabrication and wishful thinking. Remembered, that which has happened, about to happen and that we wish to happen. The horrific reality of what presents the senses in real time. The domestic daily grind given a voice. All a performance of the mind in text and image and perceived likewise in the viewer/audience.

My blog – visually devoid of the human body. A world reflecting the metaphorical interaction between self and object. Reality of existence between the minds eye and my own. A third space that exists somewhere between motivation and action. The internal monitor and interpreter of the everyday, the mundane and exceptionally unexceptional.

Exploring/investigating differing shades of pathos and humour found or observed in the repetitive mundane tasks, routines and rituals of everyday life. Hidden within these spans of time can be found startling moments of poetic individuation, and an imprint of the individual within the commonplace rituals of society. My objective is to document and validate singular ‘marked’ and ‘unmarked’ moments of my life.

Glossary – Electracy

mastermistress — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:44:57 +0000

Electracy – to come

The photo-narrative – Todd Heisler – photojournalist covering the Iraq war – on portraying emotion

mastermistress — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 03:30:00 +0000

Todd Heisler, 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winner for the following images.
Reference for these photographs and writings

Critique of images and captions
The author/photographers portrayal is of an almost distant factual account of what he saw and heard, he imparts no emotive words towards the highly emotional content. Quoted words of its participants use seemingly simple language that could leave the viewer wondering why those particular words were chosen to represent the image. Instead they are loaded with ambiguous meaning. The viewer constructs their own narrative surrounding the sequence of pictures, added to the strength of previous experience concerning death or the threat there-of of their own mortality or that of their loved ones. It is strictly business of everyday reality the soldiers face as a part of their duty to their country and colleagues. On the flip-side – it shows a raw and almost uncontrolled state of emotion brought to the surface, the stuff where psychological defenses’ of denial and shock take over the brain.

A pregnant widow grieves at the visual reality unfolding in front of her, confirming what she has only been previously told, her husband returning from the war in a flag draped casket. The soldier half embraces the widow. Maybe he is or not known to her or a friend of the deceased. Perhaps he holds her back in her blind panic of grief and keep her knees from folding. His face belies any emotion he may be feeling and remains steely and focused on the task at hand.
It is unclear if the occupants of the plane are fully conscious to what is taking part beneath them even though their attention is drawn to the camera, depending on the light situation with night time darkness surrounding the plane. Maybe they are about to discover the chill of the true reality of the commotion outside, that moment of realising they have traveled with a corpse on board; something not uncommon but not usually brought to the attention of passengers traveling.

The neck and face of the soldier accompanying the widow to the back of the hearse, is flushed. He rests a hand on the back of the widow to comfort her as she folds her body to the casket.
The same soldier rearranges the casket in the funeral home before viewing can take place. He then stands guard as the soldier’s wife attempts to bring her unborn baby into close contact with a father it will never see in the flesh. We wonder about the events of his mind, that of containing his own grief if he knows the soldier, that of his future prospect of survival in a senseless war and the inevitable feelings of intrusion in a highly sacred moment between a wife and her husband. Here the photojournalist narrates, adding a sound dimension to the visual, of a gentle moaning of grief at the loss and of future dreams unfulfilled.

Katherine Cathey pressed her pregnant belly to her husband’s casket, moaning softly. The baby, due Jan. 1, will be named James Jeffrey Cathey Jr. © TODD HEISLER/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

We then witness through narration the wife’s refusal to leave her husbands body, wanting to spend one last night next to him before he is buried. The soldiers make her a bed and ask if she would like to stay standing on guard while she sleeps. No doubt they are required to guard the body. One has to wonder if they have abandoned protocol to accommodate the wife’s wishes because they know her and feel compassion, or perhaps they anticipate she fears being left alone with a dead body. She replies that it is probably what her husband would like to happen.

The night before the burial of her husband’s body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of “Cat,” and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. “I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it,” she said. “I think that’s what he would have wanted.” © TODD HEISLER/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

We see again a visual of the steely faced and emotionless determination of the soldier’s friends/colleagues as they obsessively-compulsively practice the flag-folding. Even though rehearsal and repetition is a well-known hallmark of the military, it is a fitting act to relieve feelings of anxiety. Perfection of a simple act seems to be the ultimate symbolic way of honoring the memory of their friend.

The day before the funeral of their friend, 2nd Lt. Jon Mueller, left, and 1st Lt. Matthew Baumann practiced for hours folding a flag, making sure there would be no errors the next day. “That will be the last time his flag is folded,” said Maj. Steve Beck, as he instructed them. “It has to be perfect.” © Rocky Mountain News 2005

To me, the decision to use the closing caption of the father hugging the soldier is rather ambiguous. He claims his son taught him that he needs more than one friend. This could be a careful ploy on behalf of the photojournalist that would leave the reader/viewer deciphering its meaning. It’s aim could be to distract, dilute and safely close the deep emotion evoked throughout the photo story… one often used by psychologists in a therapy session.

As his son’s funeral neared, Jeff Cathey’s tears rarely stopped. He often found comfort in the men who shared his son’s uniform. “Someone asked me what I learned from my son,” he said. “He taught me you need more than one friend.” © TODD HEISLER/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

Thrush equivalent – what’s it all for?

mastermistress — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 22:17:55 +0000

and

Glossary – Ambiguity

mastermistress — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 07:11:11 +0000

Ambiguity -

Interesting blog on proverbs and life instructions …

mastermistress — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 21:34:18 +0000

Superfluous after-thoughts .. read what this lady has to say … a good read.

If you post in cyberspace and no one ever reads it, does it truly exist?

mastermistress — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 01:05:40 +0000

… it only just occurred to me … I’d like to add more but the timing coincided with the need to go to the toilet. I must go .. but feel free to check out the rest of my blog.

Cheers, P.

Email from the Poop Report Editor!

mastermistress — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:39:01 +0000

Master Mistress,

Hey there,

I saw your profile on PoopReport. I’m the editor of the site. I’m interested in learning more about you, your art, and the media response.
I have a book coming out in a few months (poopthebook.com) in which I go in depth into both poop in art and the media’s responses to poop…

Feel free to write a 700-1200 word essay on who you are, what you’re up to, and how people have responded. I’d love to post it on the site!

dave

__________ NOD32 2022 (20070130) Information __________

This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.

http://www.eset.com

Primary research – things I’ve discovered about blogging your research

mastermistress — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:01:26 +0000

As usual – this is an ongoing post – note to self, see number 2.

1. When putting in links to posts

Always, and I mean always … put links in on your post at the time you post it. As you add more posts, you just won’t get back to it as good as your intentions may be. Steady and methodical like the … what ever animal it’s supposed to be, wins the race eventually.

2. Keep lists on the wall of categories and ongoing posts

If you mean to get back to posts that you want to add to as more information comes up … keep a running list on the wall in front of the computer, so you can always be tuned into what it is you are looking for at any given time and what you should be adding to .. this way it stays (almost) fresh in your mind.It helps for me to use handwritten diagrams or mindmaps about this as I am visual – but I endeavour to try out Startree software.

3. Contextual stuff

Have a post or category that lists your favourite blogs for contextual reasons and why.

Have a post or blog for contextual references and critique them at the same time … write it up in word first and then post it all at the same time. Slow down and be methodical about it … something I’ve always had trouble with. It is too easy to post a million and one references without backing itup and you will never get back to it.

4. To up the chances of the blog being picked up by search engines and other people on blogs

Always take the opportunity to fill out any tag you can in a link – especially for images. The more bizarre in relation to the context the better, it will get noticed. But the cardinal rule is not to make it offensive or sexual in any way as the search engine filters could ignore it. Just don’t make them too long or they can’t be read on a mouse over if you intend it to be really useful information .. save that for the post instead.

The most informative and interesting information should be kept near the top. This ups the chance of it being picked up by search engines – I think I read somewhere that their crawlers only read into so many words within the post or article/website.

Find the top blogs or posts of your site dashboard and always read what is going on. Leave a comment (well thought out, not too offensive and concise) and other bloggers always come over and have a look at your site if they are interested in what you have to say. Remember too, this is what spammers with advertising and porn do to get the sites looked at … Akismet usually picks them up but also other posts with links to elsewhere in them. It also means that your well-meaning post could get sent to spam. So, the name title with its link function enabled is enough to get people to visit without links to sites. The hits on my site have gone crazy since doing this. Reading what others have to say also helps my own research and ideas.