Inspired: “It’s a Kodak Moment in the House”

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Reverend

I was inspired by so many of the student radio programs, they were amazing. But that’s fodder for a whole ‘nother series of posts. For now I want to focus on one commercial from the brilliantly conceived and executed WireBuyers radio show: Jessica Reingold’s “It’s a Kodak Moment in the House.” I’m already deeply compelled by the technology theme in season 2 of The Wire, and when you mashup Ziggy’s highlighting the features of stolen digital cameras with a Kodak commercial you get some magic. What’s great about this one is the music bed remains consistent so you are never jarred out of the illusion that this is anything but a commercial for Kodak.

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Inspired: Vulcan Mindmeld Incoming…

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Reverend

Yet another inspired work from ds106 this week, this one from Mariana Funes. What I like about this work is that it was itself inspired by Kris Hooks’s suggestion that I looked like I was doing the Vulcan Mindmeld in the screen capture for the video of the discussion we had last week:


Mariana riffed on this and had some fun with it. This piece is a brilliant example that ds106 is at its very best when we are riffing on each others work. Mariana has been ruling in more ways than one this semester, but I’ll get to that.


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Wire 106: S03E07 – “Back Burners”

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Reverend

This marks the 32nd episode we’ve watched and discussed so far this semester. We’re not playing games here.

In this Wire 106 video discussion, Paul Bond and I looked at season 3, episode 7 of the The Wire: “Back Burners.” There are a few moments that are interesting in this episode—the mirroring of loyalty and taking care of the young between Sergeant Carver in Hamsterdam and Marlo with his pigeons. There’s also Freamon’s discussion of how the burner phone networks operate, which has some interesting parallels with the overarching allegory of the Iraq War that’s playing out in this season. In fact, the description of the burner network was similar to how a terrorist cell network operates, making the ongoing allegory subtle, complex, and often embedded within the technology of control that is everywhere present in this series.

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Inspired: Wire 2600

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Reverend

The Wire on the Atari 2600

I love what Ien harris did with the create a cartridge cover for an Atari 2600 game assignment. How can I refuse an 8-bit game based on The Wire? Makes me want to learn how to code these old school games so I can program one for each of the five seasons. Geeky stuff like this totally inspires me. Also, full disclosure, I dreamed this up for the ds106 assignment bank which makes me kinda biased 🙂

Color me inspired.

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Inspired: Never Been a Paper Bag for ds106

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Reverend

BunnyColvinOf all the amazing moments in The Wire, possibly my all time favorite is Bunny Colvin’s a paper bag speech which sets the stage for legalizing drugs in Hamsterdam during season 3. So when Paul Bond took this monologue and put it to the end credit music I was inspired. It’s a simple, but very effective pairing, and it almost reminds me of the late Gil Scott-Heron’s poetry. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed, and might even be inspired to make some art, dammit!

A great moment of civic compromise, indeed! And it was the first thing I thought about when it came to adding a ds106 community member’s work to the Inspire! site (read more about Operation Inspire here). You can see Paul’s work memorialized here.

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Dawn of the Dead: Hare Krishna Zombie Doll

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Reverend

Dawn of the Dead: Hare Krishna Zombie doll

While in the mall the other day (the irony is not lost on me), I discovered this awesome action figure of the Hare Krishna zombie from George Romero’s 1978 class horror film Dawn of the Dead. I couldn’t resist buying it, given the themes of consumerism, malls, etc 🙂 If you have no idea what I am talking about, below is a video with a little bit of context.

Also, below is a shot of the back cover of NECA’s Cult Classics figurines. I admit I’m nothing more than a diletante when it comes to horror movie toy collectors, but this one is a must have for so many reasons, foremost among them being how detailed and good looking it is.

Backside of doll cover.

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Wire 106: S03E06 “Homecoming”

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Reverend

In this installment of the ongoing video discussions, Paul and I were joined by Syd Bauman and Travis Peed for a really stimulating and far-ranging conversation on season 3, episode 6 of the The Wire: “Homecoming.”  Travis and Syd came with their A-Game, and this back and forth proves why a conversation around a specific episodes brings forth so much fruit. I’m also loving how these ongoing hangouts provide a very focused way to convene with the wire106 internauts and share our ongoing ideas of the show through the lens of one episode.

Some of the themes we covered, though were the presence of Westerns in The Wire; the struggle for community in West Baltimore; the ongoing challenge of leaving the game; early American references to “wilderness” a la Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work—to name just a few. This was a fun discussion, and kudos to Travis and Syd for showing up and being prepared to engage in some deep exploration of this episode, and by extension the series.

Below are a series of screenshots we shared during the discussion in no particular order.

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Inspired by Wire 106

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Reverend

Image credit: Nicky Memita

With the beginning of week 9 here at UMW, we’ve officially crossed over the half way mark for the semester. The wire106 internauts have been amazing, they’ve published more than 1400 posts so far and created six original radio shows that have been broadcasting live on ds106radio this week (with the last two shows airing tonight from 8 -10 PM EDT). Given how intense the semester has been, Paul Bond and I figured it was a perfect time for all of us to slow down for a moment and reflect on the work done that has inspired us so far.

To that end, we premised week 9 of wire106 on listening and responding to the radio shows on ds106radio, as well as featuring work from around the ds106 community that has inspired. Featuring someone else’s work in the ds106 community that inspired you will be a staple for the last eight weeks of the course—is there a better way to build community?

INspire ds106

How do we do this? The ds106 itnernauts are asked to blog about the work that inspired them, but also add the piece to the ds106 Inspire site that was created back in 2012 by ds106 alum Linda McKenna and Rachel McGuirk. A site created by students, for students, to feature the work that spoke to them creatively. How cool is that?

One of the real benefits of this process is that with more than 1400 posts no one in the class can be expected to read everything, but as 27 individuals we can filter the work we enjoyed, effectively curating what’s happened so far so we all can get a better sense of what folks are creating. Additionally, I would argue it builds a stronger sense of community in this online class, as well as motivation to create more and better art!

I couldn’t be more inspired by the work that’s happening right now in wire106. This crew is bringing their A-Game all the way!

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Wire 106: S03E05 “Straight and True”

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Reverend

In this video discussion of season 3, episode 5 of the The Wire, “Straight and True,”  Paul and I focused on the limits of reform inherent in the logic of capital—or something like that. Also, we explored the struggle for many of the characters in this season to go straight, which comes into sharp focus during this episode.

Something that struck me about this installment is it’s one of the few times, over 3 seasons of awesome television, that the writing came across as overtly formulaic. The episode is driven by Bunny Colvin’s realization at a departmental ComStat meeting that “shit flows down hill” in institutions, which is a lesson he grafts onto the street that provides a solution to getting the drug dealers to go to Hamsterdam. This struck me because usually this given of narrative is woven subtly across several episodes, but this one came out as one of those rare “AHA” moments in The Wire.

There’s a lot more at work in this episode that we discuss, and I guess only the tale of the videotape will tell it..

Below are some screenshots from this episode that we focused on in the video discussion.

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Wire 106: Week 9 – Get Inspired

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Reverend

This week will be dedicated to going back and looking through the work that’s been done in wire106 that has inspired you thus far. And if you have been operating in your own private Idaho, well then consider this the opportunity to break out of your own world and get inspired.

ds106 Inspire

You will be expected to add three works to the ds106 Inspire site (http://inspire.ds106.us), and then blog about each work in a separate post detailing how and why it inspired you. Tag these posts “inspire” (no quotes).

In the same vein, we expect that you will leave at least ten different comments on ten different blogs. Spread the love, and put them in your weekly summary.

Radio Shows Broadcasting Schedule
The six radio shows that were created last week will be broadcast live on ds106radio (you can listen here) this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights from 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM. At least two Members of the group should be on hand to talk about the behind-the-scenes work for this show.

Tuesday, October 21st

  • The Science of the Wire Group Discussion 8:00 PM – 8:30 PM
  • The Science of the Wire radio show 8:30 PM – 9:00 PM
  • The TDSN Radio Show Group Discussion 9:00 PM – 9:30 PM
  • The TDSN Radio Show 9:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Wednesday, October 22nd

  • The WireBuyers Group Discussion 8:00 PM – 8:30 PM
  • The WireBuyers radio show 8:30 PM – 9:00 PM
  • The DSTW 76.5 News Radio Show Group Discussion 9:00 PM – 9:30 PM
  • The DSTW 76.5 News Radio Show 9:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Thursday, October 23rd

  • WMAD Radio Show Group Discussion 8:00 PM – 8:30 PM
  • WMAD Radio Show 8:30 PM – 9:00 PM
  • The Baltimore News Radio Group Discussion 9:00 PM – 9:30 PM
  • The  Baltimore News Radio show 9:30 PM – 10:00 PM

In addition to the shows and group discussions airing this week, everyone will be required to do the following two things:

  1. Be on twitter for at least one of the shows to share feedback real time using the #wire106 hashtag.
  2. Reflect on at least one radio show they listened to and were not a part of creating. Describe the experience of listening, the various sound elements employed, what parts worked, what parts didn’t, etc. Be thoughtful, critical, and most importantly respectful. Tag this “radiolisten” (no quotes).

Wire Episodes
Season 3, Episodes 5, 6 & 7.

Video Discussions of Episodes
Tuesday 9:00 AM Episode 5
Wednesday 2:30 PM Episode 6
Thursday 2:00 PM Episode 7

Sign-up for the video discussions here.

Daily Creates
Do two daily creates this week.

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