Opening Doors You Thought Might be Closed

I made this gif with http://makeagif.com/youtube-to-gif Who knew that creating a gif from a downloaded You Tube video could be so easy? I have been working much too hard at this for the past 3 weeks! Sure, the name of the video editor is on my gif, but the video sequence belongs to The Prisoner series, anyway.

Sappho has been planning an escape route out of the Village. and she thinks she has found one! In the “Once Upon a Time” episode, Number 6 is introduced to the idea of a waste disposal unit! Here he is contemplating the words of Number 2.

Time is running out! The long summer evenings end soon, and Sappho needs to break away from the internet before fall courses begin.

She has bought some Village deck shoes to help her retreat, but after watching the final Prisoner episode, “Fallout”, she is wondering whether life can ever be normal again!

At the recommendation of the Village Philosopher, she has taken out Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot” and plans to read it in the next 3 weeks. After all, Nureyev had read all of Dostoyevsky!!

Prisoners, ‘idiots’, Village residents, fairy tales, Burgeron Trailer Blues-all have opened doors to the digital arts for Sappho. It has taken a lot of courageous experimentation on her part and a supportive online community which has tweeted and re-tweeted her work, +1 with comments on G+, a few backchannel emails, and WordPress posts w. comments-all bolstering her to find her own voice, and I think now, she has!

Thanking the DS106 community for opening doors and windows!

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Variations on a Theme: “Where Am I?”

Sappho, planning her escape

Sappho is up late at night, midsummer, adding some visuals- moving and not- to her repertoire of working on one of the Prisoner themes of “Where Am I?” She is planning her own escape from the Village while working on her art, but is increasingly under the influence of gifanitus, a Village condition of ‘mutuality’. She is eating well and exercising, hoping to become more ‘unmutual’.

Finally, Sappho also put together a small trailer about Freedom and Prison.

And now, it’s time for bed! BCing you…….

Gender Not An Issue in Bovine

There have been some quizzical faces around Bovine County lately. It’s well known here that the #Burgeron106 family and community are open, tolerant and inviting as a way of life. Things like gender, socio-economic status, political ideology, age, nationality, education, profession, marital status, and even species and state of aliveness (Mama & Little Boo) just aren’t issues with us. This openness to alternative ways of being in the world can cause confusion and misunderstanding for others outside the family who don’t live here, but have just dropped by for an event or an occasional visit.

SuperMoo & Anna Cow

Take for example last week when it was reported that SuperMoo was smitten with Anna Cow. To those of us who know that SuperMoo is a transgender bovine, there is no issue.  She was seen running in the woods last summer and most recently he was head-over-hooves in love with Anna Cow.  While not a big issue for us, it can still be confusing.  What pronoun should be used with a transgender being? Even the human transgender community has yet to come to complete consensus on the matter.

The AP Stylebook, the most widely used by journalists and editors, encourages writers to “use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

“If that preference is not expressed,” the Stylebook continues, “Use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.”

That’s all well and good if gender identities are clearly visible & identifiable. But in the case of our SuperMoo, whose superhero alter-ego conventions only add to the confusion, we do not see clearly definable gender characteristics.  SuperMoo is on most occasions sporting an androgynous style.

SuperMoo in her #Prisoner106 Village cape (Cape & doll image remixed with permission from Liana Kerr.)

SuperMoo in his #Prisoner106 jacket (Doll image remixed with permission from Liana Kerr)

We acknowledge, understand and empathize with the confusion some are experiencing. Below are a few tips and resources if you’d like to learn more, or simply become more supportive of transgender beings.

Tips & Resources for Allies of Transgender Beings

The following are tips that can be used as you move toward becoming a better ally to transgender beings.

• You can’t tell if someone is transgender just by looking.
• Don’t make assumptions about a transgender being’s sexual orientation.
• If you don’t know what pronouns to use, listen first.
• Don’t ask a transgender being what their “real name” is.
• Respect the terminology a transgender being uses to describe their identity.

• http://www.glaad.org/transgender/allies
• http://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender
• http://gaylife.about.com/od/transgender/f/heorshe.htm
• https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender
• http://www.glaad.org/blog/glaad-responds-vanity-fair-cover-featuring-caitlyn-jenner-releases-updated-tip-sheet

Sappho: Languishing in the Village

Sappho thinks she’s been languishing in the summer heat at the Village a bit too long. Her art and design classes have been instructional, and she has had a few conversations with Number 6 privately in his bungalow and over tea at the Village Bistro. Her vision seems to be tainted now with rose colored glasses. Sappho went to visit Dr. M. in her bungalow to help Sappho with the dilemma of separating illusion from reality and was instructed by Dr M. to contemplate a ‘daily create’ challenge. Dr. M. advised daily contemplation of the following adage ‘Interrupt the flowerbeds and finality will follow’. Sappho was able to transpose nouns in this adage and create a mash-up artwork at the Village Studio to help give her a more expansive view of her changing perspectives during her stay at the Village.  

Sappho compared her artwork with that of some of her compatriots over a midsummer Village dinner and found that her ideas differed vastly. She still could not maintain ‘design integrity’, a seeming requirement for success in Village life. Dr. M. had even created a sample artwork to help the many Village patients who were dealing with multiple realities.

Sappho was still mainly interested in still photography and writing; although, Village preferences favored the mesmerizing gif format. She understood the gif persuasion – especially its hypnotic qualities which left Villagers in the trance-like state so advantageous to Number 2. She decided to rent a penny farthing at the Village rental shop by the beach and take a day trip to the Bovine County Fairy Tale Fest. The question was whether she could actually escape the Village for a spell or not.

Credits

All writing by @janweb3

Mash-up art by @janweb3

Second flower mash-up art by Mariana Funes

Jim Groom glasses and penny- farthing gif by John Johnston

Well, that was close!

What is hiding in those underground tunnels under the village?

I found this door in the basement of my tree house today and decided to open it. It has been there forever, I notice it each time I go down to get a nice bottle of wine from the cellar to drink with NanaLou or Reg when they visit.

Today I decided to investigate. i went down some stairs followed a corridor and found myself here

I followed the instructions on the terminal room. Andrew is right.

 I have uncovered a vast underground labyrinth of tunnels and corridors. While I have encountered a large number of locked doors along my explorations, I have in one instance found a room within which I have discovered a piece of functioning network hardware.

I spent hours looking before I came across this room. I then spent as long trying to find a way to add to the digital message in a bottle but I think I succeeded. As started to find my way back to my tree house at the Burgeron’s, I got lost again.

Luckily I had my phone with me. The memo recorder and torch apps worked well.

I need to rest now, it was a close call this time. I should have just used the transporter. I hope Andrew gets my message.

Behind the scenes

I discovered there are underground tunnels in Cardiff (UK) and found some amateur footage of these. I used the Tiny Planet app to create the movie at the start from a still image. Sound effects from iMovie and discovered Window < record voiceover on iMovie. Then used audio effects to create Dr M’s voice. The plan was not for a monster to attack me but Gifadog will insist on taking the limelight whenever I record.  Just a bit of fun for a rainy sunday.

 

The emperor’s new clothes

“What is this?” thought the emperor, “I do not see anything at all. That is terrible! Am I stupid? Am I unfit to be emperor? That would indeed be the most dreadful thing that could happen to me.” “Really,” he said, turning to the weavers, “your cloth has our most gracious approval;” and nodding contentedly he looked at the empty loom, for he did not like to say that he saw nothing.

Hans Christian Andersen (1837)

This must be the earliest recorded case of Impostor Syndrome! The emperor does not even trust his own eyes and walks out naked to meet the crowd. The people around him claiming to see the most beautiful suit even as they see him naked. Only a child on seeing him speaks the truth. The crowd turns on him and points at his naked body. The tale ends, in its original format, with the emperor saying ‘I must bear this till the end’. Even if I know I am naked and the crowd knows I am naked, and I know they know I am naked, I must keep up the pretence of being dressed until the end.

I happen to have loved this tale as a kid. Themes in it echo those of The Prisoner in the next village where I am working at the hospital. Who can tell the most convincing lie? How having hierarchical power does not inoculate you from even the prisoner telling a good tale that can destroy you; the importance of what ‘a majority’ chooses to see and how that majority is easily convinced that white is black and black is now white. Questioning everything constantly and believing nothing.

I guess I will be having lots of sessions with the family this week after such disheartening messages about how humans can behave towards each other. I have my memory machine ready to record and also some tapes to show them memories of the great kindness and trust the family has shown to others now and in past generations.

Behind the scenes

Thank you to the lovely Jonah Stern for allowing me to remix his lovely image for this assignment. Thank you to our retired eminence in the other village for his animated gif that gave me just the right frame to transform and adapt to fit inside the coat. Little questions marks a png file put in place with free transform. Village font for the alternative take on the ‘I am not a number!’ the prisoner constantly repeats. Hoping I can add this to the ‘minimalist book cover’ assignment with a twist!

 

Sappho’s Designs

DS106: Capture/Screenshot a scene from an episode of a TV show or a movie and try to make a poster for that episode or movie. Try to make it cool! Be creative!

Here is my gif from the opening and repeated scenes of ‘The Prisoner’. I used Free Video Cutter to make the gif.

I entitled this gif “Where am I?”

Here are some of the comments I received on G+ for this gif.

Kathy Onarheim

Jul 19, 2015

 It is Awesome!

Nana Lou

 Jul 19, 2015

 Very nice dear. I like the effect you’ve got there of going around-and-around.  Although for those of us with motion sickness issues, I’m feeling awfully dizzy.

janet webster

 Jul 19, 2015

 Yes, very dizzying. Wasn’t exactly what I was going for, but I’ll take what I can get on my first try.

Nana Lou

 Jul 19, 2015

 I have to say you did a great job on this +janet webster .  It looks like something +John Johnston would’ve made.  A smooth GIF that tells a story in more ways than one.  Bravo!

Ronald L

 Jul 19, 2015

 Bravo! Well made.
I kinda recognize the fast style of Mariana’s gifs too in it.

janet webster

 Jul 19, 2015

  Not necessarily intentional 😉

Ronald L

 Jul 19, 2015

 Well that’s how it works, you get influenced without knowing it.

Mariana Funes

Jul 19, 2015

 Cool! Glad you found a way. It is a lovely one. Make sure you add the tags for the assignment when you do your post so you get credit units! +janet webster

Ronald L

 Jul 20, 2015

  What’s this with credit units?

John Johnston

 Jul 20, 2015

 +Nana Lou thank for the compliment. This looks a bit deeper than me:-) I see the repetitive nature of the series, resign and be dammed again and again. nice stuff.

 __________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Still inspired by the above gif made by John Johnston, I took the still images from my  own gif’s clip captured from John Johnston’s blog and made a book-cover or poster for ‘The Prisoner’ series. I wanted to keep the monochromatic scheme of the typewriter and photo still of #6 with the XXXXXXXXXXX across his face. The word ‘Resigned’ is a key word in the themes presented in this series, so I used it as a title instead of “The Prisoner”.

The floating head  (a la John the Baptist) is somewhat unnerving, but I wanted to give that sense in my composition. I also like to build in ambiguity to my compositions.

I don’t have a lot of time to devote to these assignments, and I usually do them late at night, so I look for quick and easy technical solutions to my creative ideas.

Sappho’s Many Moving Parts

My summer holiday at the Village.

Gif Camp on Mondays at the Village Studio.

Introduction to Filming on Tuesdays at the Village Pantheon.

Be Seeing You

Still Photography and Time Travel on Wednesdays at Bungalow # 6.

Poster Making on Thursdays at the Village Rec Hall.

Fridays for Exercise and Workouts Around the Village. Free Day!

Saturday and Sunday: Special Projects TBA

In Nana We Trust

The Puffin Fairy Flock gave a fascinating Ted Talk on the new Speed Learn technology they acquired from The General over at the #Prisoner106 Village. With Speed Learn you can trust us that you will learn an entire three year course of material in just 3 minutes. This is the first use outside of the #prisoner106 Village aiding the #burgeron106 Bovine County Fairy Tale Festival attendees to take in the vast amount of fairy tale literature being presented at the festival.

Brought to you by the #burgeron106 puffin flock, NanaLou,  #prisoner106 and  DS106 VisualAssignments316

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About TED Talks

Thier Mission: Spread ideas

TED is a global community, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world. They believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. On TED.com, they’re building a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world’s most inspired thinkers — and a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other, both online and at TED and TEDx events around the world, all year long.

In fact, everything they do — from their TED Talks videos to the projects sparked by the TED Prize, from the global TEDx community to the TED-Ed lesson series — is driven by this goal: How can we best spread great ideas?

https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization

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RESOURCES:

• TED Talk PSD file from Ben Rimes: http://www.techsavvyed.net/archives/2132
• Puffin Images: https://pixabay.com/en/photos/penguin/
• Skew tool in Photoshop

Puffin Fairies Invade The Village

Talk about “Jammers”… The #Burgeron106 Puffin Fairy Flock discovered Dr. M’s teleporting treehouse this week.

They invaded the #Prisoner106 Village

and

declared war on The General.

I hear with the help of the #burgeron106 Special Forces they stole the General’s design secrets for Speed Learn before blowing up that old mainframe computer. NanaLou will be announcing soon her own plans using this technology for the good of all – as it was meant to be.

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Image Resources

• Retro TV (png):  http://drydenart.weebly.com/uploads/8/9/6/1/8961653/old_tv_empty_screen.png
• Images from TV Show & locations:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/retroweb/sets/72157623276677846
• Puffin Images: https://pixabay.com/en/photos/penguin/
• Other modern day Village (Portmeirion) photos:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/coastermadmatt/sets/72157626173293297/