I would have to say of all the activities I did for the semester my favorite would have one I did for the DS106 Sardonic Mashup audio assignment.

This was an assignment I enjoyed doing the most, because firstly it was a spoof of an apology of a ridiculous situation and secondly it was working in audio which I like. I did the assignment in Audacity, and I chose to use songs to echo Lance Armstrong’s response in his interview with Oprah. If I were to expand on this I would do it more from a video point of view rather than just audio. Would I choose to do such a project for the final project? Who knows?? Endless Possibilities Ltd.

In response to CT101s post Fairness and Fair Use, I chose to look at the current ongoing case between popular Wu-Tang rapper/ producer and now recently actor and director Robert Diggs aka RZA or Bobby Digital. RZA was the producer for Kanye West’s single “Dark Fantasy” from his album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The articles from Spin magazine and Fusetv go into detail about the current legal battle Diggs is currently in legal battle against Teichiku Entertainment the Japanese publishing house for the song “Gincyo Watadori” by Meiko Kaji. Teichiku claims that Diggs sampled the piano playing from the song with out paying for it. Here are the two songs to listen for yourself :

Kanye West – Dark Fantasy

Meiko Kaji – Gincyo Watardori

To me I have to say I personally cant see the claim about the sampling of the piano playing at all. But regardless the power of economics has stepped in and Def Jam, West’s recording label has refused to pay Diggs a cent till the Japanese drop their suit. I think this is a ridiculous claim and one aimed at a producer known for sampling other songs to create tracks or beats. Some include:

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 chambers) is the debut album from the Wu-Tang Clan rap group. RZA was the executive producer. Every track samples another song.

Liquid Swords is the second studio album from fellow Wu-Tang member GZA which every track except one samples from other songs. RZA produced most of the songs.

Bobby Digital in Stereo is his own debut album where of the 21 tracks 3 have confirmed samples.

I believe that as some one who is well seasoned in the music industry, Diggs knows the consequences one can with sampling with out credit or payment. This suit just seems really ridiculous and the fact that Def Jam refuses to pay Diggs while the track itself does make money is further ridiculous. We now have judges in courts who can clearly critique forms of work and determine what is infringement copy of an original and what isn’t. With most copyright cases I just see someone or a company who is seeking to cash in on a quick buck since most of these cases settle out of court rather than waste more money in court battle.

In response to Prof. Chloe’s post this Friday gone. I watched the James Gee video on video games and interacting with media. What stood out for me is the evidence which found that text books have been the least successful tools.  I remember back home in Barbados having similar discussions with two former co-workers. One was advocating that books will never be replaced when it comes to education and professed how much he had taught himself and discovered to broaden his world view through the many books he has read. The other co-worker wasn’t necessarily discrediting the others thought towards books but said that reading was the worst way to learn something. At first this confused me. However upon further discussion we came to the conclusion that books will be useful in gaining some form of knowledge whether in digital or paper format. I was enlighten as to how one can truly learn a concept better when it is demonstrated and you practice it rather than you go and read about it.

I was asked to imagine if vocational jobs which many people are successful in such as carpentry and masonry which are very important were to be taught from text books if they would be as successful. Sure the process can be documented in print but not really learned that way. Why then is education still reduced to being learned this way?  Professor Chloe mentioned how even this very DS106/CT101 course was helping break down this teaching border. Just imagine how many things in the world are evolving technological and sharing wise, yet higher education is still kept for the most part confined to ever expensive texts and human factory like campuses. We live in a world, in a country, in a state, in a city where high school children are dropping out at ridiculous rates. Yet many of these children are able to become masters in video games they play and know all the current pop songs. These children, many of whom are not remedial or mediocre, but rather demotivated by a system which to social and digital media… lets keep those separate from the classroom. Well guess what you can’t. In most university classes are the internet on their devices. So rather than attempting to blend both (which is an ongoing process in some places), those who stand to benefit the most will reject the idea of of traditional being incorporated to be used with these digital “distractions”. So tear down the barrier of learning and let the world gain knowledge. Endless Possibilities (c)

So I know its been a while since i last posted anything on the blog, so here we go I been trying to make up my mind on what to use for this popcorn video along with having my own issues to the not so easy use of popcorn in regards to videos. Any how here is my pop using videos which give different views on the issue of Global Warming. Here is the video which unfortunately doesn’t embed into wordpress, which is understandable since Popcorn itself uses online content instead of downloaded content like our remixed iMovie/Windows Movie Maker maker.