Scott Walker/ Justin Bieber mash-up

The bombardment of media and friends inundating me with information, concerns, and experiences with the Wisconsin labor bill and planned parenthood protests has caused me to agonize over another issue: Justin Bieber’s Rolling Stones comments.

While republican Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s attempt to slash collective bargaining rights from all Wisconsin state employees is appalling, it is, as many have pointed out, pretty much exactly what he said he would do in his campaign.  He spells it out on his website and in many of his campaign videos as seen below:

So why did he get elected?  Maybe because people were busy worrying about abortion, going to hell, and the like.  I know that is a brash, over-generalized comment, but it is really all that is needed to get across the equally simple point I am making.  Here is a video that highlights the use of abortion as a tool and dividing issue used by both parties in the 2010 Wisconsin governor’s election.

These are the issues that elect.  These are the issues that people care about. Why do they care about abortion?

Because Justin Bieber told them to!

Again, gross overstatement and abortion is an important issue.  But when intense moments of government polarization come to such sharp clashes, as with the current protests, recognizing the forces that are leading to such polarization come with extreme urgency.  Justin Bieber taking an anti-abortion stance (and also an evangelical agenda) when he is in a position heavily influence (brainwash) such large populations of very young people is a big fucking deal. I am not trying to make Bieber a bad guy, it is just an event that I can stop thinking about.  Here is a news video that presents a brief, but wide-ranging view of the discourses that are coming out of Bieber’s Rolling Stones remarks:

To conclude my mash-up, I will leave you with this video of the Wisconsin protests. At 0:16 you can see a protester holding a sign with a poster of Bieber and the slogan “Bieber says Hell No!”  What would Bieber say and why does what Bieber says matter?

Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill Protest from Matt Wisniewski on Vimeo.

Justin Bieber talks about abortion, sex, and politics in new Rolling Stone

This post comes as a good follow-up on my post concerning the Justin Bieber “Pray” video.  I think the headlines and the articles below speak for themselves:

Justin Bieber Talks Sex, Politics, Music and Puberty In New ‘Rolling Stone’ Cover Story

Tween evangelist? Justin Bieber film packed with prayer

Justin Bieber Says He’s Pro-Life on Abortion, Wait for Sex: Apparently he wasn’t quite assertive enough for the pro-lifer’s.

A question of empathy: Justin Bieber and the difference between anti-abortion and anti-choice.

While I do think that a clear political agenda is beginning to emerge with force from the Bieber icon, a view presented in the second article, I was swayed by the last article in the Huffington Post to be slightly more understanding and read further into the situation.  Maybe Bieber, still only 16, is just trying to do and say what he thinks it right.

Never the less, the structures of sentimentality surrounding his pop empire and agenda deserve a critical engagement.

Srsly awesome

I have recently seen too much art and too many vids.  Here are the highlights relevant to my research:

Hennesy Youngman: Art Thoughtz new video:

“IM ON THE INTERNET BITCH IM ON THE INTERNET BITCH IM FUCKING FAMOUS”

I am so obsessed.  Hennesy is a persona created by Jayson Musson.  Visit Jayson’s site here. Visit Hennesy’s youtube here.

MFA Student work: J.R. Uretsky

I recently saw an exhibit of mfa student work.  I was especially interested in work by J.R. Uretsky.  I checked out the website when I got home.  It is a weird, engaging mix of excessive materials, family stuffs, gender, pop culture, etc..  I definitely felt some art kinship to the work.  Here is one video I rocked hard to:

Nicki Minaj’s new video:

Here is a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks3_kuRAzHs

Not my most favorite song, kind of cliche, not so much edge, but I like the part in the beginning when she goes in to some of her characters.

Damali Abrams:

This weekend I went to the lecture Sonic Art and Activism: Exploring the ties between feminist art and popular music. The entire panel was great.  Particularly relevant to my own research was panelist Damali Abrams .  Her work deals with identity, culture, gender, race, more things, etc…  She uses self-help videos, vlogging, popular (and un-popular) music, stickers, and more things in the work I have seen of hers.  On her youtube, I found this video of her on the MTV show “Say What Karaoke” from the late 90′s and early 2000′s.

In the context of the rest of her work, this video is so poignant and complicated.  It is almost hard to believe it is real.  The racial undertones, sexualized comments, and over-all reality of the whole situation has left me curious.  I used to watch and dance to this show all the time when I was a kid.  I am still kind of in awe at how the mere re-contextualization of this clip changed the reading of this situation to one of extreme criticality.

Srsly fucked up

Srsly fucked up: recent things that have pissed me off.

 

Nicki Minaj and Regis:

Ok, I know this is not that recent, but I have been meaning to post about it for a long time.  WTF Regis. This is disgusting.

 

Chris Brown in “Best Love Song”:

So how does exactly does Chris Brown tell her how he feels?  With the back of his hand?

“I never put no one above you”

Psh.  Really.  Is everyone like over him being a wimpy ass abusive motherfucker?

 

 

 

Re: Sign building research

Here is a screenshot of a shop I passed this weekend.  I thought it was a perceptive use of font and signage to reflect on.

Link to the website of the store

Sign-building research: Signs, Fonts, and Politics

In trying to decide the aesthetics of a sign project I am working on, I came across an inspiriing and curious video posted by some Ron Paul supporters:

“This a sign that freedom built,” remarks one of the builders at the end.  Literally how to build the sign, the geographical politics of its placement, and the belief in the candidate’s ideals overlap in weird ways.  What are the politics behind sign building (not just for outwardly political campaigns)?  How do the aesthetics of the sign politicize it accordingly?

While it might be less confusing to look to something besides political campaigns as a model, it is a very well analyzed, clear example.  Below I have linked some of the articles I found useful.  One of the author’s put the issue quite clearly when he said “Type is language made visible” (Collins).  How did the candidates craft a language that convinced the public they were sincere?  What are the implications of this assumed sincerity?

So after all this, I think my sign will be white with royal blue, serif font, maybe Baskerville…

 

Links:

To the Letter Born

What font says ‘Change’?

 

structures of sentimentality

Structures of sentimentality.

I have been thinking about what this means lately.

sen·ti·men·tal [sen-tuh-men-tl]

–adjective

1. expressive of or appealing to sentiment, esp. the tender emotions and feelings, as love, pity, or nostalgia: a sentimental song.

2. pertaining to or dependent on sentiment: We kept the old photograph for purely sentimental reasons.

3. weakly emotional; mawkishly susceptible or tender: the sentimental Victorians.

4. characterized by or showing sentiment or refined feeling.

sen·ti·ment [sen-tuh-muhnt]

–noun

1. an attitude toward something; regard; opinion.

2. a mental feeling; emotion: a sentiment of pity.

3. refined or tender emotion; manifestation of the higher ormore refined feelings.

4. exhibition or manifestation of feeling or sensibility, or appealto the tender emotions, in literature, art, or music.

5. a thought influenced by or proceeding from feeling oremotion.

6. the thought or feeling intended to be conveyed by words,acts, or gestures as distinguished from the words, acts, orgestures themselves.

I hadn’t viewed any top Youtube videos in a while when I came across a story about American Idol contestant, Chris Medina.  I want to try to understand his story in relation to structures of sentimentality.

Here is an article that discusses the use of sentiment in this story

‘American Idol” sob story stirs a debate