I liked the readings for this week a lot - I never knew that Camp was an actual thing. I’m working on editing my first video and am hoping to have at least two up by Wednesday.

My reading response to Susan Sontag’s “Notes on Camp” can be found here.

Daily Creates can be found here.

Susan Sontag’s “Notes on Camp” was one of my favorite readings so far. I’m a huge, huge fan of campy stuff, but never realized that it had enough of a presence to warrant academic reflections on it.

I found Sontag’s essay interesting first because I never realized that “camp” extended beyond movies and TV. Who knew that Swan Lake is considered campy (something with which I completely agree)? Her mention of things like 18th-century “Art Nouveau” Tiffany lamps and the like offered a new perspective of just what the idea of “camp” means beyond the Buffy the Vampire Slayermovie.

A few lines in “Notes on Camp” made me laugh, but are also what I find to be wholly accurate descriptions of Camp: “The pure examples of Camp are unintentional; they are dead serious” and “Camp is art that proposes itself seriously, but cannot be taken altogether seriously because it is ‘too much.’”

I was a bit confused about Sontag’s need to clarify the relationship between “the homosexuals” and Camp: “Camp taste is much more than homosexual taste,” she says, and wastes about three paragraphs comparing the relationship between “the Jews” and liberalism with the one between “the homosexuals” and Camp. She fails to offer much of an explanation as to why this clarification is warranted and I wonder what influenced her decision to include it. I know that drag queens, crossdressing, and enhanced sexuality or sexual ambiguity can be aspects of Camp, and I wish that Sontag had ventured into it more - though I suppose that the fact that this was written in 1964 may have affected the tone and focus of the article.

Despite this weird argument, I found Sontag’s article to be interesting less because of its specific arguments but more because of its existence as a piece of academic writing: she mentions in the beginning that defining Camp may tarnish the cult of Camp, which I kind of agree with. I’m not sure a deep analysis of what I would call an accidental phenomenon is really necessary, but it’s interesting to look at attempts at giving a purposeful definition to it.

Daily Create: Draw a picture of a new invention.

Daily Create: Take a photo that represents math at work in the world.

The Dewey Decimal System! God knows I have no effing clue how this works despite being forced to watch Tomes and Talismans in middle school.. but it includes numbers, so that’s math, right? (Right?)

This week I did the following: Daily Create, Daily Create, Daily Create Video Unit Goals Response to Numa Numa Video I think it’s good that we were required to express our goals for the video unit because it really made me brainstorm ideas in my head and really visualize what it is that I want to ...

In response to the original Numa Numa video…

… being attacked by a panda. I hate pandas so, so much. So I avoid zoos and the forests of China.

IMG_1981, a photo by arianaln on Flickr.

CC Andrew GainerThis week introduced the Video section of the class. I am very excited about these upcoming weeks as I have never really worked with video before. As I prepare for these three major video projects I am realizing that my options are limi...

something broken, a photo by arianaln on Flickr.

snowface

CC Scott BealeDouglas Wolk gives praise to internet legend Gary Brolsma in his article "The Syncher, Not The Song". Wolk makes one of his best points while comparing Brolsma (Numa Numa Guy) to the lightsaber kid. The Star Wars kid is trying to hide his...

When I first saw this video back in 8th grade, I without a doubt thought that the Gary Brolsma was from whatever country Numa Numa was made in. No way would someone who does not know the meaning of the … Continue reading →

This week I made a few new posts to my blog. The daily creates this week were interesting since we were allowed to either follow the ones on The Daily Create, or create a video daily create. I chose not to do any of the video options, as I'm not super ...

Daily Create 2/3/13 - Draw/create an image with a boring picture on an interesting surface.A smiley face on a table in my room, which is actually a mirrored table.

This article made me think of the many times in which videos posted online became cultural sensations. Some of these videos were definitely meant to be seen by others - like a music video for a catchy song that we don't understand - but others seem to ...

Daily Create 2/2/13 - Make a picture of something broken. Literally or figuratively.The ceiling in my apartment.

This week was a lot of fun because we began the video section of the course.  I have really enjoyed fooling around in iMovie and this gives me a great opportunity to create some unique, fun and creative videos.  I really embraced the video course and have already began to think through some ideas for ...

The syncher, not the song discusses the origin of one of the world’s biggest musical mistakes and YouTube’s biggest hits, The Numa Numa Song. This catchy American techno hit originated as a single from a Moldovan-Romanian boy band. Travelling viral from culture … Continue reading →

CC Neil HowardCompleted:Daily Create 1Video Create 2Daily Create 3Response to "The Syncher, Not the Song"Video Section GoalsThis week, I had trouble working on a video. I wanted to use the song "Girl on Fire" by Alicia Keys with a video clip of Joan of...

This doesn't do me much good anymore. And this happened because my roommates decided it would be a good idea to put the hanger around their heads like a hat. LOL.

The song "Dragostea din Tei," popularized in America by the infamous Numa Numa youtube video, quickly became a recognized tune before you could say "vârcolac." I even remember once making a video where I briefly did the Numa Numa dance. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find this video (I think youtube took it down because it was uploaded right when they realized that they can be jerks and get away with it). I always figured that it was a one hit wonder song from the nineties, or an old song by Eifel 65, which is probably a one hit wonder band anyway. I had never actually seen the Numa Numa video until this article, and was initially introduced to the song by friends or strangers randomly singing it as a joke. It came so quickly, and was so catchy, that I thought the song had always been around. Classic goofy song. I did a quick youtube search and even found out that my favorite animal, the pug, even had a numa numa video. Unfortunately, the french bulldog and boxer (also a few of my favorite dog breeds) did not have good ones, but a pug is a pretty obscure animal.  I take this video of a pug starring in his very own Numa Numa dance video as proof that they really are one of the greatest dog breeds of all time.

dailycreate

Something broken: the ice machine in my fridge.

I had lots of fun with the assignments from this week. I really enjoyed both of the daily creates and the video creates. I’m glad that we voted on doing both because it gives us the option to either have … Continue reading →

In this article, the origins of the “Numa Numa” video are traced. The original song: “Dragostea din Tei” began as a single from a Moldovan-Romanian boy band and it was misinterpreted from culture to culture to end up in America … Continue reading →

According to Susan Sontag, “Camp” is a sensibility. It is “something of a private code, a badge of identity even, among small urban cliques” (Sontag, 1964). After reading this definition, I was still unclear about the subject, though she does make it clear that it’s not an idea. I may have grasped the idea of … Continue reading →

 

Saturday’s Daily Create, a photo by denardr0016 on Flickr. Broken and I don’t know why…